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The design of our Card Throwing Mechanism is heavily motivated by the anatomy of an actual human arm and wrist. The primary intention of our mechanism is to successfully be able to deal a card across a table. Thus, by linking three sets of four-bar mechanisms, we aim to enact a sweeping and flicking motion to project the card forward (Figure 1.0).
Figure 1.0: Card Throwing Mechanism Design
Figure 2.0: Kinematic Diagram
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In Figure 2.0, we can see that the mechanism has four grounded links overall, and is mainly driven by w1. The motion of w1 directly drives w2, which is meant to mimic the “arm” of a human as it moves forward to throw the card. The motion of w3 and w4 mimic the flicking motion of the wrist and hand as the arm comes to a stopping motion at the end of the thow. The angular motions w2, w3 , and w4 do not complete full rotations, and return to the start of their curve. Alternatively, w1 is the only angular rotation that makes a complete revolution.
Figure 3.0: Sections of Four-Bar Mechanisms
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Furthermore, we can also analyze the mechanism as a whole, as seen in Figure 4.0. In agreement with previous calculations, we found that Gruebler shows one degree of freedom for the mechanism.
Figure 3.1: Section 1 Design Analysis
Figure 3.2: Section 2 Design Analysis
Figure 3.3: Section 3 Design Analysis
Figure 3.4: Mechanism Design Analysis
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