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Northwood Tech Former
Northwood Tech Former
A Former is an automated packing machine that forms cartons in a downward motion. The goal of this machine was to be sent to Northwood Tech to be studied by its teachers and students.
A Former is an automated packing machine that forms cartons in a downward motion. The goal of this machine was to be sent to Northwood Tech to be studied by its teachers and students.
What the machine looks like in Solidworks
What the machine looks like in Solidworks
Modified parts and assemblies to fit box size needs
Created change parts based on the box configuration
Designed new parts and assemblies to fit an electric actuator
Assembled a Red Book with all of the specifications, BOM, and drawings
What the machine looks like in real life
What the machine looks like in real life
It was my first machine, so I had a lot of learning to do
The Formers always have more Lexan guarding to them, this picture was taken before all of them were placed on.
A curiosity about this project
A curiosity about this project
What you are seeing here is what we call a Mandrel Drive Assembly. In simple terms, it pushes the boxes to get formed as it moves along in a downward fashion. The standard for these machine is to use a pneumatic actuator; however, because the client (Northwood Tech) wanted a way to control various parameters such as stroke length and velocity, we decided to include an electric actuator from Linmot that could take care of the job.
The challenges with this design is that the mandrel (the block that goes under this assembly, not shown in the picture) is made of T6061 aluminum, so it is pretty heavy. A way we found to compensate for this weight is to include magsprings (the two brown cylinders on the two sides of the pictures) so that they could better assist in the control of the mandrel going up and down.
HORDL: Hand Operated Rehabilitation Devices for Legs
HORDL: Hand Operated Rehabilitation Devices for Legs
HORDL is a device for leg rehabilitation purposes. Its goal is to allow patients to gain autonomy in their healing process by making use of hand movements.
HORDL is a device for leg rehabilitation purposes. Its goal is to allow patients to gain autonomy in their healing process by making use of hand movements.
What
What
Help paraplegic people regain leg movement
Needs to move both the knee and the ankle
How
How
Developed hand gloves to control movement of the knee and ankle using IMUs
Designed knee and ankle mechanisms to actuate the leg model
Results
Results
Hand gloves controlled each mechanism successfully
Had to readjust ankle mechanism due to fitting challenge
Soft Robotic Tentacle
Soft Robotic Tentacle
The Soft Robotic Tentacle's purpose was to experiment and validate the properties and capacities of soft materials combined with FDM.
The Soft Robotic Tentacle's purpose was to experiment and validate the properties and capacities of soft materials combined with FDM.
What
What
Design a soft robotic gripper that can grab, lift, and rotate objects
Needs to carry objects of 2 kg or less
How
How
Designed on SolidWorks a possible spine and its support
Coded in Arduino all the motions of the robot
Managed due dates with a Gantt Chart
Results
Results
Soft gripper grabs and lifts objects with a mass higher than 2 kg
Printed most of the parts using FDM , which saved on the cost of manufacturing
Automated Microtiter Plate Imager
Automated Microtiter Plate Imager
This project involved the design of an imager that needed to be automated using motors, mechanisms, and pneumatic systems.
This project involved the design of an imager that needed to be automated using motors, mechanisms, and pneumatic systems.
What
What
Automate the cycle time of the imaging process of plates from 5 minutes to 1 minute
Needs to handle 500 plates in total
How
How
Used linear drives in SolidWorks to design the cassette carrier subsystem
Performed Pro Forma analysis to define the cost from materials and motors
Results
Results
The design fulfilled its purpose and arrived at an NPV of US$545,000 with an initial investment of $344,000 and payback period of 1 year and 10 months
I also have a YouTube channel where I have posted my research on a robotic shopping cart as well as other academic robotics videos: https://www.youtube.com/@joaopedrocilentolopes4923
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