Prototype Design:

At this point, we settled on the above gear design shown in Figure 2.3 and the “M” shape four-bar mechanism and began to CAD the pieces to build the prototype. We decided to laser cut the pieces, as it is quick and would give us precise cuts with the least amount of friction. We ordered gears on Amazon and used the measurements from the figure to scale up pieces in SolidWorks to make a miniature version of the bird for our prototype. We also had to decide how we were going to make the pin joints, where we decided on 3-D printing pins and caps that allowed for 360-degree rotation with low friction and joint play. Displayed in the figures below are the different pieces that we designed in CAD for the prototype, along with pictures of the prototype.

Figure 4.1. CAD of wing tip for prototype.

Figure 4.2. CAD of gear arm for prototype.

Figure 4.3. CAD of top and bottom wing links for prototype.

Figure 4.4. CAD of front of box with L bars.

Figure 4.5. CAD of box sides prototype.

Figure 4.6. CAD of pin joint.

Figure 4.7. CAD of pin joint cap.

Figure 4.8. Image of prototype bird wing mechanism.

Figure 4.9. Video simulation of bird wing motion.

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