SPRING 2017
POTATO CANNON
We will be making a remote controlled potato cannon. The structure of the cannon is to be made using Schedule 40 PVC piping in order to ensure all pipes can withstand the internal pressures. There will be a ball valve placed before the release valve for safety. A bike tire valve and a bike pump will be used to pressurize the air chamber. All PVC joints will be sealed using PVC primer and PVC cement. A relay switch will be connected to a solenoid that will essentially be our trigger. The relay switch will be programmed to activate at the push of a button on a phone through a Bluetooth app. The structure will be able to rotate at the base and rotate the barrel up and down.
BIPEDAL ROBOT
We are proposing to make a bipedal robot. This robot is powered by an Arduino Uno, and moves about using four servo motors, with one on each hip and ankle joint. At the bare minimum, this robot will be able to walk in a straight line unassisted. The robot will have 4 degrees of freedom controlled by the 4 servos. The majority of the robot will be constructed with 3D printed parts which will help keep the weight down and allow the robot to move about more easily.
ROBOTIC HAND
The human hand is one of humanity's greatest tools. Tried and tested over years of evolution we have achieved remarkable accomplishments with our hands. With the robotic arm we have extended our reach and naturally, the next step in increasing the utility of the arm is to convert it to our best tool, the hand. The design of this robotic arm was built off of the existing robot known as InMoov.
SERVO SPECTRAL ANALYZER
Spectrum analyzers are devices that take in audio signals and process the frequencies of sound coming in and display the amplitude of the different frequencies. Following this idea, we created a spectrum analyzer that displays frequency bands within the range of human hearing using linear actuators to represent the frequency amplitudes. We wanted to create a device that allows users to get a visual representation of music using moving parts.
ELECTRIC GENERATOR
The goal of this project is to build an electric generator/alternator. An alternator takes a mechanical input to produce a DC electrical output through rectification. This will help teach the fundamental principle of Alternating Current generation. After, the sin wave is seen on the Oscilloscope, the student will rectify the output sin wave into DC. This will implement full wave rectification and illustrate the power electronics of household devices. The end result of the project will be an alternator that can be powered by various mechanical inputs. This will help to illustrate how electricity is produced and utilized on a small scale grid.
CANDY CLAW
This project is a hybrid of a traditional drop-down claw machine and the robotic arm that was offered as a project in class. Instead of a traditional claw, the robotic arm would be controlled and used to grab the prize at the end. To improve on the robotic arm, we decided to simulate a 360 degree rotation movement with the arm so that every portion of the game cabinet would be reachable. To take advantage of this movement, the arm is placed in the center of the entire cabinet.
R.C. CAR
The goal of this project is to implement a fully functional remote controlled car from scratch. The car will have most of the basic mechanical properties of a real RC car and will be able to quickly get around using a remote controller. The remote controller will utilize either RF or bluetooth technology in order to communicate with the on-board electronics to control both the speed as well as the steering of the car. The first milestone of the project will include designing and selecting various parts for an RC car. This will develop the structure of the car and allow us to understand how an RC car is put together and the various components required to make an RC car fully functional.