Introduction
Robot mechanisms are often used to tackle complex problems in industry from manufacturing to transportation. However, complex mechanisms are seldom seen in the household despite their great potential to automate everyday tasks, like eating Oreos. Indeed, when eating Oreos, it is difficult to get the perfect amount of sogginess without the Oreo breaking apart. Our primary objective is to create a mechanism that automates the act of dipping Oreos.
Problem
Messy hands and falling cookies are issues that we all face. Having to dip a cookie in milk is a fundamental life experience but you are left with Oreo residue after enjoying the snack. An additional problem when dipping your cookie of choice in milk is getting the perfect level of sogginess.
Proposed Mechanism
We would like to create a mechanism that allows its users to enjoy milk and cookies hands-free. The mechanism will be manually loaded vertically with a cookie and then moved to place the cookie in milk. Once the cookie has reached the desired level of sogginess the cookie will be lifted and actuated to a horizontal position that benefits the consumption of the user.
The proposed scope of work for the final project
- To overcome our problem, we are designing a mechanism that moves a cookie from one location to another (for a certain period)
- Brainstorm possible mechanism configurations as well as problems that we may encounter and potential solutions.
- CAD an arm mechanism and plot the associated position, velocity, force, and motion profiles.
- A critical review of mechanical design and consider the strength of links, joint integrity, motor power, etc.
- Create a simple prototype with cardboard etc to validate that the design roughly maps the intended trajectory
- Plan out Arduino pin connections and skeleton of code to obtain desired motion. (Redo 3 if necessary)
- Laser cut/3D print the parts and configure Arduino to construct a functional prototype.
- Review the functionality and integrity of the prototype and reinforce/iterate if necessary.
- Final product manufacturing.