Can Can challenge - Arm fabrication 2

With a new design of the arm, we went to fabricate it. It was then we found out that the workshop had wires, and can be used. The wires, though flimsy, are strong and light. So Jonathan suggested we use wires instead of sheet metal will holes punched through. So, our arm design has changed from sheet metal to 2 wires bundled together.

Can Can Challenge - Arm fabrication 1.5

We figured that one finger for the arm to grab the can wouldn't be enough, so we think that having to fingers, one near the top of the can and the other at the bottom, would be better for the arm to grab the can.

Can Can challenge - Arm fabrication

Jonathan has finished the autocad drawing of the arm. Me, Tan You, Didn't realize what is wrong with the drawing, but Daniel did. However, it was only when the drawing was printed then we realize that the arm was too big. So unfortunately, Jonathan had to do the arm all over again.

Can Can Challenge - Arm Design 3

We decided to use the rotating grabber arm for our robot. Simply because it is easier to program the robot to go back and forth rather than rotating and reversing at the same time.

Steps to how the robot will grab the can and brig it back.

1)The robot, at the starting line with the arm fully extended, will move till the arm is inline with the can.

2)The arm, attached to a servo motor, will rotate and grab the can.

3)The arm will rotate all the way to behind the robot while the robot goes backwards. towards the starting line. The robot arm will keep the can in place while the robot pushes the can back.

4)The moment the can goes past the starting line, we grab the can and the robot moves forward while the arm swigs back to the front.

5)steps 1-4 are repeated till the 2 mins is up.

Can Can challenge - Arm Design 2

We found out that when the arm is fully extended, a few centimeters will be able to reach over the other end of the line to grab the can when the robot is in-between the can line and the starting line. This led us to wonder if a fixed arm with a large hand attached to a rotating robot might be the quickest method to grab a many cans as we can. However, we discovered that the diameter of the can is just slightly too big that the robot have to go in a little further to grab the can. We thought of the robot moving in a diamond shape, but we couldn't guarantee that the robot will be in the same position all the time. So it was back the drawing board.