Introduction

Identify the project and team members:

The SCARA Robot project was completed by Grey Cells team. The team members are:

Rodrigo Dei Mechanical & Electronic Designer / Assembler

Tareq Badra Electrical Designer / Programmer

The purpose of the report and Blueprint statement:

The purpose of the project is to build a Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm (SCARA) with an electromagnet as the end of arm tooling (EAOT). The robot will be designed to pick metallic objects from a designated platform and then placed them in a specific area that would simulate an object being assembled.

The project was a success. The deliverables were met. The Robot can automatically pick a metallic object from a designated location and place it in another designated location. At the end of the project, the CPI and SPI were slightly above one, which means under budget and ahead of time.

Project Description:

The project is to build a SCARA Robot, which is basically a robot arm. The robot is controlled by three motors that dictate the position of the EOAT which is an electromagnet intended to attract the screw/bolts. The motors are two Servo motors and one DC motor with an encoder. Once a bolt is detected by a sensor, the motors will move the robot EOAT to pick that screw/bolt. Based on which hole container the object was picked from, the robot will place it on a specific assembly hole. The motors are controlled by an Arduino microcontroller that is programmed to make the robot move to specific locations automatically.

Report Summary:

In the project methodology section, each phase of the project is explained in detail. In the initiation phase, the ideas about the project and how it was conceptualized into hand sketches are discussed. In the planning, the team worked on the scope statement and project management documents and have the project planned out. Also, the team started working on the mechanical design using SolidWorks and the electrical design using Multisim. In the execution phase, the team members pulled up their sleeves and started working on assembling the robot. In addition, all the electrical wiring and electronic circuit were built in this phase. In the controlling phase, basic programs are created to test each required function of the robot separately. Later, a complete program containing all these functions was created to make the robot run the complete process. In the closing phase, the team performed a complete review of the project. After that, the team worked on the final report and complete the Project Management documentation.

In the project management section, the report demonstrates the earn value analysis with SPI = 1.02 and CPI = 1.05 at the end of the project. The team faced an issue in the electrical connection that required the disassembly of the robot. The team was able to make up for that delay and end the project ahead of schedule and under budget.

In the recommendation and lesson learned section, regarding Scheduling, the team suggests that the scope should be realistic and achievable within the allocated time and cost. Also, contingency work should be scheduled in case more time is needed. Regarding the cost, the team recommends that the design should be finalized from the beginning and avoid any major changes in the later phases of the project. In addition, doing the EVA on weekly basis would help the team identify any extra money needed way ahead of time.

In the figure (1) below, pictures of different phases of the project are shown: