Conclusions

We were able to devise devised a mechanism that can be expanded to function as a fully automated can crusher that will quickly crush cans and output said cans into a bin. We obtained desired torque/force to crush the plastic water bottle. However, ironically, due to having a greater force that pushed down the bottle than expected, removing the water bottle was not achieved. 

Future Work

One thing we would like to change is the position of the bottom slider. We came across an issue where our crushing motion is strong that it does not allow the pushing motion to happen. Currently, the pin of the pushing mechanism is positioned at 90° CW away from the pin of the crushing mechanism. We could decrease the angle between the pins from 90° to 60°. In addition, we can also implement a higher torque motor with sufficeint gear ratio to actually crush the can.