6. Final Prototype - Automatic Sauté Machine

Our final prototype was a success in some ways and still a work in progress in others. Overall though, the biggest success is that we were able to achieve a sautéing motion from our mechanism with reasonable speed and acceleration. As well as this, our mechanism's materials handled the load well, giving us confidence that the mechanism would last through repeated use. With that being said though, we feel that the mechanism would benefit from an entirely different motor. We went with a DC motor in order to achieve 360 degree powered motion, however, the motion could have been more stable. The DC motor's acceleration was affected by the weight of the mechanism with the pan, resulting in an inconsistent output. We feel that a 360 degree servo or feedback sensors to alter the output of the DC motor would have resulted in a much more stable motion. Nevertheless, our machine was still able to produce a sautéing motion that would work for moving the food around in the pan to prevent burning. Below is a video demonstration of our mechanism in action.