3.7 Conclusions and Future Work
Final Thoughts
Through every step of developing our automated music box, our team was able to problem solve and take what we learned in class and apply it to a real project. Although the entire process of project development was tedious and sometimes frustrating, it is safe to say our project was very fulfilling. Our initial objective was very simple in that we wanted to create a mechanism that mimics a music box by playing notes on a xylophone. It is safe to say that we succeeded in our objective. Not only did we create a mechanism that mimics a music box, but we developed our own cam/follower system that is completely custom and visually pleasing. Our team was also able to implement three different lever systems driven by one motor, which is not common to see in projects in the realm of a music box with separate systems. Through our successes in our initial objectives and our accomplishments in developing a unique and visually pleasing device, it is safe to say our project was fulfilling and informative. Although we have faced a lot of success, it is important to note that it required a lot of hardships and obstacles that instilled long-term lessons in our team. There are certain components of our project that we would tweak to improve the overall functionality, if given the time. With our experience, it is important to inform future groups of what we learned to best set them up for success. All of which is outlined below.
Lessons Learned and Future Work Ideas
The torque and speed of the motor have to be taken into consideration especially if it’s driving components with a lot of resistance. Our team unfortunately did not consider this enough and we initially used a high speed motor to drive all three lever system. We thought that because the low torque would sufficed with one system, it would probably be okay for the others as well. During our prototype testing for our final design, our motor was unable to overcome the resistance of all three lever systems so our device did not play. We then had to waste a lot of time disassembling the component securing the motor and its coupling to the D-shaft to replace the motor with one with a higher torque. Unfortunately, because of the time constraints of the final deliverable, we had to use what was reliably available at TIW, so we opted for a slower motor that did affect the sound quality of our device. In this, we learned that we have to take every component of a device into consideration during the development process to avoid any hiccups during prototyping. We also learned that the angle the xylophone key is at has a great effect on the quality of the sound produced. We learned this through a lot of fiddling after deconstructing the children’s xylophone. We mapped out and laser-cut the baseboards with consideration to the lever’s motion in our MotionGen before we discovered this, so our keys remained vertical. In the future, we would want to make the xylophone keys at an angle rather than having them completely vertical to get the lever to strike the key at its optimal angle.
Tips for Future Students
Because our team faced many challenges through our project development phases, we made a list of some tips that we want to share with future students to guide them away from making the same mistakes. The most important tip is to start developing, designing, and prototyping as soon as possible. This is because a lot of students ignore their projects until the end of the semester and TIW gets flooded with students trying to print or laser cut. Avoid this at all costs by being ahead of other students so you don’t have to waste time on waitlists. Not only that, but initializing your project early leaves a lot of time to catch errors and address them because hiccups are bound to happen. Another tip is to attend the TA check-ins regularly even when they are not required. The TA’s are very knowledgeable and personally helped us solve many problems we did not know how to go about. They offer great advice and methods in developing a successful project.
Acknowledgements
Our team would like to thank Meredith L. Symmank, our lovely professor, and the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering for not only teaching us about the calculations behind robot mechanisms, but also for giving us the opportunity to showcase our knowledge in real-life through our projects. We would also like to thank the TA’s, Connor Hennig and Mila Wetz, for spending a lot of time helping us get a better grasp of the content and applications to real-life. Furthermore, we are grateful for the experience this course has offered us and we wish for it to continue for many students after us.