Operate - Programming

Operate - to control the functioning of the system ...

 

This is the program which our team member, Darryl, created. This program help starts the car to move to and fro to collect the cans. This program also help us to control the timings. 

Which includes:

• The time of the car moving forward
•  The time of the car stopping to capture the can, 
• The time of the arm rotating downwards,
• The time of the car moving backwards and lastly, 
• The time of the arm rotating upwards to release the can.

This cycle will repeat itself . That was the first program we used. 

On 14th Aug 2013, it was the day we were all waiting for. The day that marked the deadline of this project than we have worked on for 2 months; the day that we can all put an end to everything done; the challenge. 

On that day we decided to meet earlier at 8:30am though the challenge start at 10. We wanted to try out our program, but the program doesn't seemed to work properly. We thought the car was not moving the way we wanted it to be. The arm actually rotated all the way downwards, which is not the way we wanted. So Darryl altered the program a bit. He edit the timing so that when the arm is rotating downwards, the lowest it can go is to the floor and not anything more than that. 

After so much hard work contributed by each and everyone in our group, which included the Programmer, the Manufacturers, the AutoCAD Designer and the Bloggger, our hard work finally paid off and are proud to present our cancan-challenge! 

 

 









Thanks to the mechanism which helped us collected 8 cans in 2 mins! Even though in the end our mechanism only managed to get 8 cans out if the 3 tries, but the process was all that mattered. Through this project, we learnt many little things that actually added up to a lot. Besides the technical knowledge learnt through the task that we are assigned to do individually, we have also learn some non-technical values which are not taught in classes. For instance, we learn to work as a team, to communicate and discuss on how we can make improvement, and most importantly to determine and persevere to the end.

This project is really a great experience, we of us had fun together. We want to thank everyone who gets involved in this project. Thank You!

Implement - Manufacturing

Implement - to construct and manufacture our components individually, the platform and the arm, from the raw materials, Acrylic, and then install them altogether onto the car itself.

Firstly, we drew pencil lines onto the acrylic so that we know the dimensions and where exactly we are suppose to cut it and drill holes on it.

Next, we cut the acrylic into the exact size we wanted using the acrylic cutter machine.

Then, we bent the acrylic, using the heating machine, to create the inverted U-shapped platform and an U-shapped arm. 

We decided to drill 3 holes on top of the platform to secure it onto the car. 1 hole on the right side of the platform and another 4 holes on the left side of the platform to secure the motor to the platform. We also drilled a hole on both sides of the arms so that we can attach the right arm to the platform using a pin and the left arm to the platform using screw.

(This sketch is laterally inverted)

Lastly, we assembled everything together which includes; the screwing of the platform onto the car itself, installing the motor to the left side of the platform, attaching the left side of the arm to the motor and the right side of the arm to the platform using a pin.

Alas, things did not go as planned(as always). We accidentally broke the acrylic while fabricating, but we did not gave up. We redid everything again and persevered to the end.

We have improved our design as it is easier to fabricate and easier to understand too.

We have cut the right side of the platform, and removed it, and bent the right side of the arm inwards as we felt that the acrylic is very stable and we can operate it even if only one end of the arm is screwed to the motor. Moreover, this also helps to reduce the mass and hence improve the speed. And then the other end is held in the air. We think that is helps to reduce friction. 
 

As such, we took the U-shapped arm we have created and bent the right side inwards using the heating machine. 

Secondly, we decided not to drill any holes on the platform. Because we thinks that no holes are necessary as the motor is very secure.
 

We have also changed the number of holes on the arms. We only drilled 2 holes on the left end, which is straight, to tighten it to the motor and the car itself.

We then assembled everything onto the car; the screwing of the platform onto the car itself, installing the motor to the left side of the platform and attaching the left side of the arm to the motor. 

Finally, our fabrication is finished and our car is produced.

Design - AutoCAD

Design - to create and draw the layout of our design using AutoCAD so that we can understand and visualise it better ... 

This is the design of our claw in AutoCAD. Due to some manufacturing flaws, such as tolerance, we designed the arms to be a little longer to compansate the bending length.

Our group approached our lecturer for some feedback and the advice given was to increased the space within the arms as it gives a higher probability of the can being capture. And our lecturer also reminded us that the car might not be propery programmed, and the car may not stop at the point we wanted. Thus, we have double the width of the ams and also increased the length of the arms too.

The lecturer also suggested us to draw a 3 views orthographic projection of our design, which includes the front plane, the top plane and the end plane. This is for our blogges and classmates to visualise and understand our concept better.

We tried to simplifly our design by bending one end of the arm inwards. We are confident that the Acrylic is stable enough if only one side of the arm is connected to the car with the motor. We bended the other end of the end inwards so as to create a loop to capture the can.

This way it saves time while maufacturing and also reduces friction at the other end.

Conceive - Sketching

Conceive - to think of and sketch some designs and ultimately choosing the best one. Firstly, these are the few designs we came up with ...   

                               

Option 1.

A simple design of a horizontal gripper using sponges. The arms can move horizontally, moving towards each other to grab the can properly.

Pros: Supposedly stable
Simple and common (Not too complicated).
 Easy to design and produce (Less problems while manufacturing).

Cons: Sponges have to place very accurately (Low probability).
Arms have to be tight enough while grabbing the can.

Option 2.

A design of a scooper to scoop up the can which comes from the concept of the dustpan.

Pros: Creative.

Cons: Too heavy (Slow and clumsy).

Can might be pushed away by the dustpan before even sweeping the can(Unstable).

Too troublesome to produce.

Option 3.

A simple design of a vertical looping technique arm. One arm is connected to a motor, while the other is held with a loose screw to the platform, which moves with the motor. The arms are connected to each other, forming a loop, which eventually is when the can is caught.

Pros: Light weight (Fast, more efficient).

Simple and nice (Not too complicated). 

Easy to design and produce (Less problems while manufacturing).

Large space for the can to be captured (Higher probability).

Cons: Can might slide from underneath if the arms are not low enough.

Option 4.

A simple design of a vertical gripper using claws. Arm with 2 claws rotate upwards and downwards to catch cans.

Pros: Light weight(Fast and efficient). 

Simple (Not too complicated).

 Easy to design and produce (Less problems while manufacturing).

Cons: Unstable (Can might slide out from the sides).

Can have to be place lying down.

So these were a few we thought of. And ultimately, after some discussion and consideration, we have decided to pick option 3, as, simply, it has the highest pros-to-cons ratio, and it seems to be the most practical among the rest. Option 1 has a high chance that it might not work, and we were not willing to take the risk. Option 2 seems to be the least pragmatic choice. And comparing options 3 and 4, although similiar, we felt that option 3 would have more chances of being able to move the can due to its larger surface area. Hence, to conclude, we will begin to work on option 3.

Introduction

So, we are tasked to brainstorm and generate concepts of a mechanism to fulfill the function of transporting an empty drink can across a given distance using acrylic. This project is deemed the 'Can-can Challenge, and our mechanism will be assessed on how many cans it can transport forth and back a given distanced within 2 minutes. Our group consists of 5 people; Shawn, Daryl, Pek Koon, Pui Leng, Chang Yu ...

Shawn.
Responsibilities: Programming and Fabricating

Darryl.
Responsibilities: Programming

Pek Koon.
Responsibilities: AutoCAD

Pui leng.

Responsibilities: Blogging

Chang Yu.

Responsibilities: Maufacturing

We have segmented the different aspects of the projects and assigned them to each individual as you can see. It will consist of 4 parts, namely: Conceive(sketching and planning), Design(using Autocad), Implement(manufacturing) and Operate(progamming). We have up to week 18 to finish this project. Updates would be posted on a weekly basis until the end of the project.