Step 8 - Putting it all together
Putting it all together: In this step, we put it all together and talk about where we are going from here.
Wearing the Assistive arm
With the Potentiometer, flex sensor or muscle sensor placed (in step 7) we can now connect it to the Arduino. As explained in step 5 we used a male to female PCB connector to make this really easy to connect and disconnect again.
You can now put on a top, or whatever clothing you will be wearing, and put the Arduino and battery in your pocket or on your belt.
Now it's time to put on the arm brace. It was easier for us to put on the upper arm and forearm braces separately and join them by the joint once they were on the arm.
Now attach the Actuator (if it is not attached already) and connect it to the Arduino. Putting the wire in through the neck of the shirt worked well. Or if you are not too concerned with the top you could make a small hole under the armpit and thread the wire through that.
Connect the batteries and off you go.
We put slits in the braces so that if needed you could put straps through the brace to make it tighter. It should not be too loose or too tight.
Where to from here - We need your help!
This version of the device is not ideal. the muscle sensor we started out with is just not suitable for our situation where the muscle signal is incredibly weak. In addition, using wet electrodes day in and day out causes irritation and is a pain to put on and take off. To address these issues we are moving onto the next version and to do that we need more help: find out here what we are doing and help out if you can!
Besides those bigger issues, in the next few versions of the design we hope to also address the following:
Making it easier to take on and off, while at the same time making sure it remains a tight and sturdy fit around the arm.
Creating a better hinge mechanism with less friction.
Testing out different actuator and pulley mechanisms to find the strongest yet lightest solution.
