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It may also be possible to allow for 3 degrees There were also plans to create a third degree of freedom by implementing using a four-bar slider mechanism that will to push the cat toy in and out, adding more variation to the movement of the toy after the prototype is created. These plans did not come to fruition, however, due to not investing enough time into planning out and implementing the extra four-bar mechanism.
After construction of the final design began, there were not too many major deviations in the plan. We chose to build the project out of acrylic for aesthetic purposes. An actual hinge was used to connect the cat toy to the rocker, and spacers were laser cut and placed between the joints of the links to make sure the links did not collide and get stuck on any loose metal and screws sticking out. While this will not be a part of the prototype, it could be possible to add it afterwards..
The base plate was designed with regard for the components that we would eventually add later. This was done by placing holes for the rotating link and the motor it's attached to, the rocker, and the electrical components. However, we later learned the given setup would cause the rotator to collide with the electrical components. To remedy this and provide room for the motor, we placed the base plate on legs and placed the electrical components on the lower plate. A miniature table was built to secure the motor and prevent it from spinning. The final major deviation in plan came with the cam system. We realized our original prototype for the cam bumps were both too close to the rocking link and too steep, preventing the rocker from moving and stalling the motor. This was resolved by creating and placing a cam wall along the edge of the platform for the cat toy to run over. By making the cam bumps larger and further away, this reduced the torque placed on the rocker and provided more room to design patterns for the cam. While our original plans involved using mechanical components to rotate the cam system in order to provide more variation in the vertical motion of the cat toy, the speed the toy traveled over the cam with caused it to leap off the cam quite frequently and chaotically. This was considered satisfactory for our project as it provided the variation we were seeking in our original designs. Finally, an Arduino was used to program more variation into how the motor was run. More details on the programming is in the implementation section.