Where Mechanical At

Sprint 2 ended on Friday and we have our MVP! What that means for mechanical is that we have a box that can move nine different nodes, but control 3 sets independently, using three actuators. We made our prototype with some scrap .21" hardwood with the laser cutters. We converted the rotational motion of the sliders into linear motion with a pin and rack design, with the rack mounted on a slider with ball bearings to reduce the friction. The three gears were connected with a rod so that as one gear rotates the rest rotate as well. Our challenge coincided with retaining the gears with the bearings linearly, since the gear shaft would often tilt down (it was not a perfect press fit. We ended capping both sides of the shaft to retain it, but due to a misprint, the final design was switched, so the cap was not as effective as it should have been. The biggest issues with this design is that there was a lot of friction in the gears, and the system was too constrained, which made rotating the gears difficult. Another issue is that the servos are too noisy, so we will have to move to a different actuator.

Our next steps are to upscale the design which poses some problems in terms of redesigning the system for .5" wood. Additionally were moving to a reciprocating pin and rack system in order to accommodate the new silent actuators. We are also going to explore Tyvek as the material to make our origami structures. In addition, due to late integration, we will make sure that we give enough space for the electrical configuration.