17- Automatic Can Opener

Team Members:

Eric Hu, Kaleigh Renninger, Mila Wetz, Vicky Zhang

Background:

Have you ever observed a busy bar counter where the bartenders need to interact with customers while preparing various cocktails? Have you ever experienced the inconvenience of a hand or finger injurythat made the can-opening task suddenly hard? Are you or your friends afraid to ruin the condition of your nails when opening a can? The can-opening task can be bothersome or inconvenient in many cases.

Problem Statement:

Due to the inconvenience that opening a can presents, the issue that our team is targeting focuses on eliminating the user input of the task. We plan to develop a can-opener mechanism that will autonomously locate the tab of a can and open it with adequate force. This will require the end effector to be accurately positioned under the tab of the can and lift the tab with enough force to open the can. Position analyses of the complex linkage system within the mechanism and the force analyses of the end effector will be performed to provide an appropriate can opening motion. Throughout this process, the multiple iterations of fabrication and analysis will result in a smooth motion to open the tab.

Final Build of the Automatic Can Opener:

Table of Contents: