Generate Concepts

One of our first concepts would've utilized a motorized CAM that would turn 90 degrees to push up a rod in place to lock it. If unlocked, the CAM would turn back down which would lower the rod due to gravity. This design seemed simple initially, but with the development of other designs it would become too complicated compared to other ones, adding an unnecessary amount of workload.

One of our designs would've been much simpler utilizing two wheels, with one being motorized that would spin one way to unlock, and spin the other way to unlock. We also considered the possibility of swapping out the wheels with gears for more mechanical reliability. This design overall was much simpler but would soon be replaced with an even simpler one.

The design we would ultimately use is a very basic and primitive design but very easy for us to make. It will utilize a motorized CAM to simply open and close to lock. The main advantage of this design is that it is the simplest to make, which is what we desire the most because the locking mechanism is simply not the main focus of the project.