1.6 Conclusions and Future Work

Accomplishments

Overall, our project was a success. We originally went into our project with the objective of creating a mechanism that could climb parallel walls with a known distance in between them. The ultimate goal was for this mechanism to be expanded upon for climbing uneven walls with varying distances, but for the scope of our project, the focus would be on parallel walls. In terms of the scope of our project, we were able to build a robot that was able to traverse parallel walls. However, where we did fall short was creating a robot that was able to climb vertically. Our current robot only has the capability of traversing the parallel walls horizontally as it rolls across the ground using the parallel walls as push-off points. When tested our robot was not able to overcome its own weight and climb vertically. Fortunately, this shortcoming is a result of our power source rather than our design. Given that our design encompasses several layers of acrylic, nearly 20 gears, 12 linkage systems, and other parts, we required a strong motor to rotate our mechanism and to fight the force of gravity on our robot. The motor we used, while strong especially for its small size, was not strong enough to supply a sufficient force to climb vertically. With a stronger motor we would be able successful climb vertically as we initially sought out to do. Even though our current robot was not able to climb vertically, our project was still a success because our design can still be used to create a more advanced vertical climbing robot.

Future Work and Improvements

The next steps for our project are improving our ability to climb and adapting our design to be able to climb vertical walls of varying distances. In terms of improving our climbing ability, we have determined increasing our output force to be the best means of doing this. The simplest way to increase output force is by using a stronger motor. A stronger motor would transmit more force into our robot which would in turn allow our robot to output more force. Another method would be to reduce the friction within our design so our force efficiency is increased. This could be accomplished by allotting a small clearance between the gears, links and base plates to reduce friction. As a result, the same input force would produce a greater output force. For adapting our design to allow for varying distances, we would need to modify our design to be able to extend to the desired distance. However, this would not be the first priority for improving our design. The improvements to our robot's climbing ability would be the first step to take our design to the next level.

Lessons Learned

1. For our final design, it was important to take into account what materials we used because when large forces were applied, material strength, friction factor, and other properties impacted how well our design works.
2. Even with excellent planning and designing, we still had to revise our plan and design as parts did not manufacture perfectly and some parts worked in SOLIDWORKS but not in real-life.
3. We learned to leave more than enough time for manufacturing and assembly because both took substantially longer than expected.
4. We learned to design with assembly in mind as a result of us struggling to assemble our design which we did not originally foresee.
5. We learned to determine and order what parts are needed early because without essential parts assembly could have been delayed.

Tips for Future Groups

1. Start as early as possible because it will most likely take longer than expected and you want to leave time for unanticipated problems.
2. Have an honest conversation with your group about strengths and weaknesses, so that way each member can help the group in the best way they can.
3. When designing, take into account how hard it will be to assemble because even if it works in CAD, it will likely be much harder to assemble in real life.
4. Ask others for advice because your professor, TA, and other students can give valuable insight on your project.
5. While brainstorming ideas, be creative but also realistic. Your idea should be creative, useful, and interesting but also doable within the time frame.

Acknowledgments

This project has been a challenging but rewarding process that has helped us all grow as engineers, and we would like to thank Professor Symmank, Connor Henning, and Texas Inventionworks for helping us along the way. Professor Symmank was vital in supplying us with the knowledge we needed to carryout the analysis and design of our robot. Connor Henning, our TA, consistently gave us invaluable advice on how to improve our design which ultimately allowed us to create our working final product. Lastly, Texas Inventionworks was our one-stop shop for everything we needed to manufacture and assemble our design. This project would not have been possible without all of the help we received, so once again thanks to all of you.