- Introduction and Background
Our project is inspired by a useless box. A useless box is made up of a simple box with a switch, with the function of turning itself off. A user flips the switch on and an arm comes out of the box and flips it back. The electronics of useless boxes are pretty simple with motors and switches.
We wanted to recreate the useless box with a focus on incorporating complex mechanisms rather than relying on electronics to drive the motion.
Summary
A fold-able rocking chair uses 6 linkages to collapse the chair from almost flat, to the fully open position. The chair has a slider that follows a curved path that locks into place at the open position. There is only one locking pin that keeps the chair in the correct position. A position analysis is used to analyze the kinematic motion of the linkage throughout the chair's motion. The mechanical advantage from a force applied to the seat, to the bottom of the front leg, is calculated using MATLAB. This is so that the force applied to the locking pin can be found when the chair is open.