1) Introduction and Background

Project Inspiration:

        Our mechanism is inspired by the artwork “Can’t Help Myself” by Sun Yuan & Peng Yu, or better known as the bleeding robot. This robot is perpetually leaking oil into a growing pool around itself and must continuously reach out and sweep the oil back towards itself in order to continue functioning. Figure 1.1 shows a GIF of the artwork for better understanding.

Figure 1.1. GIF of “Can’t Help Myself”

Initial Concept Planning:

        The concept for our robot is to perform a similar function of sweeping a liquid back into itself. Unlike the artwork which rotates a full 360 degrees, our mechanism will only operate in a single plane. The end effector will follow a semi-circular path, which can be seen in Figure 1.2, and will have a non-constant velocity profile. We will use the mechanism’s design to create the velocity profile of the end effector rather than using different driving motor speeds. 

Figure 1.2. Concept Sketch of Desired End Effector Path

        To accurately mimic the concept of the artwork, the mechanism will smoothly trap some water up a ramp and pour it into the tank then rapidly return the end effector back into the pool of liquid to show the mechanism’s need to return the escaped liquid. However, the liquid poured into the tank will ultimately feed back into the pool at the bottom of the incline. The tank and mechanism will be enclosed in a clear acrylic frame. Figure 1.3 shows a concept sketch of our mechanism.

Figure 1.3. Concept Sketch of Overall Mechanism