Lessons Learned - Team 9

Lessons Learnt as a Group

A perhaps broad but important lesson this team learned is the importance of proper simulation and analysis before physical prototyping. Since the group's skills were more inclined towards 3D modeling, it was tempting to begin using inspiration from already pre-existing models rather than conducting our own analysis from the ground up. This produced the first iterations that tended to bind and also did not conform to the ideal motion profile. Once we began using simple four-bar mechanisms that we knew how to properly simulate from the information given in lecture, the prototype became much more operable. We also understood this new iteration on a fundamental level, which allowed us to tune lengths and geometric properties to achieve the ideal pathways needed to create the pick and place mechanism. 

Although very much non-ideal, the first iteration built intuition for what was realistic and what was not in terms of manufacturability and functionality. It also served as a study on friction and the impact of material choice and actuator design on smooth operation of the mechanism. In the prototyping field, we found that non-linear slots are incredibly frustrating to incorporate in design, acrylic is very low friction, and wood is unideal for scenarios that require low friction operation.

Tips for Future Groups

The main tip is to try not to be too ambitious when choosing a project topic. Mechanical linkage systems have been used and studied for hundreds of years- creating an entirely new and unique linkage system is generally not within the scope of the given time limit and resource constraints. Our team found success building upon already pre-existing linkage systems, and specifically in the case of our final product, combining simple mechanisms to produce a complex motion profile. Most motion profiles can be achieved by cleverly combining four-bar mechanisms which further facilitates the analysis portion as all of our in class analysis focuses on four-bars.

Try to decide on the topic of interest as quickly as possible to allow enough time to prototype and manufacture. Machines have tolerances that require iterations and time for improvement between those iterations and the final product. These tolerances may even change from material to material, so be aware of the time it takes to get a properly working model. 

Finally, reach out to the TA team and the professor as soon as you have questions. All of them have been through the process of owning a project from start to finish before and hold valuable advice in all areas, whether it's about the analysis or the physical prototyping aspect. They will also provide you with viable options and will let you know what is realistic and what isn't regarding the scope of your project. Take the weekly check-ins with the TAs very seriously. 

Acknowledgements

Team 9 would like to thank the TAs who put in so much time and effort to allow us to use TIW's resources after hours. Ashwin helped us out so much with the prototyping aspect after hours, giving us extra material when we made mistakes and advice on where to go next when we were stuck. We would also like to thank Victor, who fulfilled all of our material requests incredibly quickly and was there whenever we needed to use machines outside of the normal operating hours. Sid was also invaluable to our team during the design and analysis phase, giving us advice on the mathematical aspect and answering our questions during the TA check-ins every Friday.

We are especially grateful for the accommodations this teaching team and Professor Varghese gave us when circumstances hit our team and we had to reduce our scope. This team has received support upon support from the TA team and the professor, and we are deeply grateful for everything they do. 

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