Group 078-10: Mechanical Creeper

FINAL REPORT Report FINAL PRESENTATION Presentation

The team began writing up the final report of the project as well as preparing for the presentation Also, the video below shows a testing scene of the mechanical creeper in action 

We finalized the building of the circuit using the Arduino Uno kits. We also started the building the inner side of the box which is the electrical component of the box. We ordered gas tanks and incorporated it into the box. The gas tanks will be will be filled by using a bicycle pump or a compressor. For testing we made use of the bicycle pump but we are also considering using a compressor. We used rubber tubes to connect the gas tanks to the solenoids to allow good efficient flow of air throughout the system.  The tubes will serve as a channel to link the solenoids to the linear actuators, causing air from the tanks to be  discharged into the linear actuators. Once enough pressure goes into the linear actuators, they increase in length sim ultaneously. Keep in mind that the big linear actuators are attached to the skeletal frame because they have a greater increase in length compared to the small linear actuator. The small linear actuator is connected to the top slab of the box in

We finalized the building of the circuits and wrote the code of instructions to guide the different parts of the project on what and when to carry out their specific actions. Since, we could not also purchase the motion sensor in earlier weeks the, we placed an order for it and incorporated it into the project at the of the week outside of class hours.  A hole was drilled into the skeletal arm to pave a way to fix the linear actuator which will aid the movement of the arm out of the box.  Here is a picture of our circuit: MECHANISM: The motion sensor will sense any foreign activity like the movement of any individual outside the box and send signals to the panel to circuit which will disperse the information the other parts of the project. 

We began building the circuits using the Arduino kits and also looked for ways to harness electricity into the circuits. The circuits was not completely built because we did not have enough knowledge on how to build the circuits. So, we continued our research and sought help from the co-op on duty. We needed the circuits to serve as a medium for power distribution into the separate components of the project design. The pneumatic cylinder and linear movement actuator was our first target. The diagram about shows how the circuits are to be connected and how power is being harnessed from two 9 volts batteries.  Furthermore, below is a video we watched on how to make a simple circuit using a breadboard and a Arduino Uno kits.

Although we did not turn out to be as productive as we initially planned, but we still engaged in some research to broaden out knowledge about making circuits using Arduino kits before diving into the electrical components of the project. Furthermore, we finalized the construction of the box by cutting the right piece for the top slab and attaching it using hinges to the framework of the box. The box was constructed with just one entire slab rather than two pieces which will enable the skeletal arm to protrude from the middle as suggested by one of the team members. Apart from getting one aspect of the project done as stated earlier, we were also able to get the skeletal frame that will be put into the box figured out. Alongside, we placed the order for the skeletal arm, linear actuators,  and speakers that will be incorporated into the project design as it comes to a wrap.                              A Linear Actuator  Things to expect in the coming week: Arduino

      In this week, the team began building the framework of the box to be used to house the electrical component of the box which includes the arduino component, the skeletal arm attached to an actuator valve, the LEDs, the running wires. Using the tools provided at the innovation studio, we designed a 21 x 21 squared inch base for the box and cut out four 21 x  36 squared inch pieces of wood for the sides of the box. We incorporated wood glue for this process and screwed the pieces together as well for a more compact base framework.      After the construction of the base framework, the team realized that it took us more time as planned to construct the base. The sides of the box could not be attached to the base for this reason. So, the team had to meet outside classes to start off the side attachments. T echnical Problems Faced:      The team found out that only the wood glue could not suffice in holding the box together and devised an alternative method to