7) Challenges and Future Improvements

Challenges:

• Tolerances can be a major issue when manufacturing parts for a device. If not properly accounted for it can lead to many wasted hours reproducing the parts.
• Due to limited availability of workspaces/ 3D-printers, a lot of time was often lost to waiting to gain access to the printers or other area where we could manufacture parts.
• Due to time constraints we were unable to go through multiple prototypes and refinements since the manufacturing process took a significant amount of time.

Future Improvements:

• Reduce size of all parts within base to make it smaller and more portable

• Make arm larger to increase drawing area

• Make clutch system virtually wireless to avoid tangling of wires when the base rotates

• Distribute weight evenly to avoid uneven stresses on motor shaft and sagging of base

• Design drawing table such that the arm bevel gear arrangement fits through properly and such that the gears are always in mesh and the arm can be properly controlled by the arm shaft.

• Better way to fasten things together, i.e. heat set screw inserts
• Modular design from the start, i.e. no hot glue, epoxy, elmer’s glue, etc.
  
• Retractable components for things like table legs, link lengths, etc.
  
• Caster wheel supports at the bottom of assembly to offload weight from motor shaft and make the overall assembly more stable
  
• Undergo multiple prototype and testing phases to refine the product further.
  
• Consider a more tactile controller such as a rollerball where the ball can be rolled by the user and the system responds accordingly. This would also be easier and more engaging for the children.