Conclusions and Future Work - IS

Overall, I consider my 5-Bar Mechanism a success because I was able to achieve the desired motor-driven motion. The laser-cutter was an extremely quick and effective tool for manufacturing the prototype, and the materials used (acrylic and plywood) proved to be strong and inexpensive.

Future work would include debugging the Matlab code, and reviewing the kinematic analysis for accuracy.

While I was able to achieve motor-powered motion with my current prototype, there are a few components that I would improve given more time. Specifically, the motion would be much smoother if I redesigned the joints to use ball bearings. One way this could be accomplished is by press-fitting the bearings into the acrylic links, and then again press-fitting pins into the bearings. This would likely significantly reduce the amount of friction in the rotating joints. The sliding joints could also be improved by adding linear rails, which use the same principle as ball bearings, but for linear as opposed to rotational motion. This would require a significant amount of redesign of the plywood backing in order to mount the rails. Additionally, I would like to fully encompass the electronics, and provide battery power with an on/off switch. This would complete the aesthetics and portability of the mechanism.