Final Design

This project has attempted to create a mechanical arm which is capable of moving with 3 controlled degrees of freedom, and easily capable of working in conjunction with other arms to create more controlled degrees of freedom. This arm will be made of 6061 - T6 aluminum, and will be controlled using 3 Maxon servo motors which will drive a friction-based cable system. Below, an example of the final design rendered in Solidworks is available.  

In order to control our design, a force and environment generator called Chai3D is used. This software allows user inputs for specific trajectories given a list of design variables. It works by sending signals to the motors after registering the positions of the encoders, and correcting any positioning error by rotating the motors. A simple closed-loop feedback system can be seen as:

This diagram represents the feedback from the current position of the arm, which is routed through the Chai3D system and sent through the motors in order to control for position change. On the software side, a simple block diagram can be used to describe how information is fed into the system and used to control the motors. 

On the mechanics side of the project, numerous simulations and studies were conducted prior to the construction of the arm. This started with simple stress/strain tests on the cables and body of the arm. 

Include a summary of the project's performance

This page is similar to the executive summary but is in a webpage format.