Results and Future Improvements

Building the mechanism came with many issues and problems that we did not anticipate. For example, after a few tests with the 3D printed gears, the gear stripped and as a result we could not power the mechanism with the motor anymore. To mitigate this problem we would use another material for the gears, such as aluminium that was shaped on a CNC machine. Other issues that arose did not affect the final prototype as bad as the motor. One of these problems was that the weight of the links and materials in general was too high. The weights of the materials, particularly those on the large link, created a mechanism that was hard to power. This could be improved by more thoroughly analyzing the stresses on the links through operation and creating links that are not excessively heavier than needed. A minor issue that we encountered when assembling the mechanism was the thickness of the cable. The cables thickness made it hard to work with and wind around the spindle, additionally, once the cable was wound it would tend to unwind by itself. Using a thinner, more flexible cable or perhaps a strong string or rope of some sort should be considered for future iterations.

One of our trials using hand powered motion of the links after the gears stopped working: