Conclusions and Future Work Group 14

Conclusion:

This semester, our team aimed to create an automated water juggling mechanism, the Tipsy Juggler that would transport water or other liquids from one cup to another using a closed-loop feedback system measuring the angles of the cups to determine the necessary motion to complete the task. While the cups we placed onto the mechanism could follow the desired and predetermined pathway, the action was too harsh and forceful to the point where the links holding the cups hit the system and caused errors in the motion. We can manually control the movement to the desired speed and reactions, but additional steps are needed to have the system work autonomously with the closed-loop feedback setup since it is still too harsh. 

Future Work:

The system's mechanical design is mostly complete but has room for improvement. The lower links attached to the back plate have been supported by having two identical links on both sides of the back plate to create better support on the link holding the cup. Doing this "sandwich" of links created the stability necessary to move the cups in a smooth path. However, this same method was not implemented on the top link connected to the back plate. Adding more support to the links would be ideal since they currently have some play. However, it is essential to remember that adding more weight to the links will create more issues with the DC motor as more torque would be required.

Controlling the links' motion to pour and catch the liquids without too much inertia would also be more challenging. The closed-loop feedback would need more time to test the code for future iterations. We found that the cups' motion was what we wanted, but the speed and timing for pouring and catching were not ideal. Even when the system's pace was slow enough to potentially minimize spillage, the force of the links caused the pouring link to lose balance and fall onto the back plate, causing errors in the feedback. The links would be better controlled in the future to facilitate the pouring and catching phase. 

Another issue we faced was the constant readjustment of screws and nuts to ensure that the links and gears aligned were adequately placed to move the system. Sometimes, our nuts or screws would become loose, which would cause the system to have more play than anticipated, or the gears would no longer mesh, causing the system to be inactive. If the nuts were accidentally tightened too much on the driven gears, a substantial amount of friction would be present on the gears preventing them from rotating. One way to avoid this issue is to secure the joints where they cannot move.