VII. Conclusions & Future Work

Overall, we were not entirely satisfied in our result. The goal was for the avocado pit to be effectively been removed and this did not happen. The linkage connecting from the the end of the knife handle to the actuator was unstable and the servo that powered the linear motion was not powerful enough. Lastly, the avocado grip and holder was too small and unfortunately squished the avocado.

For our future work, we would like to explore a more effective way to produce motion in two planes. Although we were able to accomplish this by the linear and rotary actuator, the method that eventually produced the motion (the 3D printed blue linkages and the wooden dowel) was not the best solution. A more stable apparatus would be more ideal. In addition to this, some background knowledge and calculations for the servo and Arduino kit would have been helpful. We did not know the maximum torque output the servos could manage therefore we did not know if the knife would even be able to pierce the surface of the avocado pit. If we had known, we could have requested the correct servos ahead of time and thereby increase the chances the knife removing the avocado pit. Furthermore, having an understanding of how to assemble and code the Arduino kit, especially since we had two different servos, would have saved our group some time.

Our last consideration would be the grip of the avocado. We hoped to create something that would secure all types of avocado to the board.

Figure 19: Portion of the different types of avocados

As shown in Figure 19, there are different shapes and sizes of avocado, not just the Hass avocado which our prototype was based off of. A grip that could clamp down on the avocado, hold it firmly in place, and fasten to the board would be a future consideration to explore.