Mechanical Design
Mechanical Design
Embedded Files
Design Criteria
Design Criteria
Must have a minimum of 3 degrees of freedom
Platform radius must fully be in the camera's field of view
Platform must complete required rotation within 70 milliseconds
Design should minimize the instability caused by backlash
Design components should be easily manufacturable
Design should ideally house all required hardware components aside from the laptop
Total cost of the prototype should be kept within $50
Key hardware Components
Key hardware Components
3x MG996R Servo Motors
9x ball joint rod ends
3x M3 rods (cut to size)
3x Y joints (3d printed)
3x Motor (shaft) arms (3d printed)
1x base plate (acrylic)
1x middle plate (acrylic)
1x top platform (acrylic)
6x standoffs (3d printed)
1x camera, Arduino housing (3d printed)
1x Arduino
1x breadboard and wire assortments
1x 6v DC voltage regulator
Design iteration
Design iteration
In our initial prototype, there were two main issues:
Backlash in the platform caused by slop in the joints
Small platform area
In order to resolve these issues, we needed to reduce the length of the rods. This, however, would also reduce the viewable platform area in the camera FOV.
v1 CAD
v1 CAD
v1 Prototype
v1 Prototype
System Sizing
System Sizing
To determine what rod length to use, we considered the tradeoff between minimizing the rod lengths and how much of the platform area would be reduced as a result. Calculations were performed based on an estimated effective camera FOV of 55°.
Rod length: 150mm → 95mm
Platform diameter: 200mm
Rod length angle w/ vertical: 8.9°
Final prototype
Final prototype
CAD Render
Final Prototype
Subassembly Components
Subassembly Components
Bottom half of system
Bottom half of system
Electronics enclosure
Base plate, middle plate, housings, standoffs
Top half of system
Top half of system
Ball platform
Platform, rod, motor arm
Arm Components
Arm Components
Control arms
Platform holder, ball joint rod ends, threaded rods, Y- joints, shaft arm
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