Conclusion:

The mechanism was able to produce the correct position profile that can accurately place the end effector under the tab and lift the tab at the correct place. However, even after introducing the gear system to the motor, we were still not able to open the tab of the can. We found that this was due to slipping between the set screws of the motor coupler and the 6mm rods. With this slipping effect in place, the torque from the motor is not able to transfer fully to the end effector, which led to a loss of the resultant forces at the end effector.

Lessons Learned:

From our experience, our team has learned so much about automated mechanisms and the prototyping process to create said mechanisms. One of the lessons that help us, when we first started was to account for the tolerances when pushing a design from CAD to print. We found out that many printers and laser cutters have a unique tolerance for each machine, so accounting for that helped us in the long run. Next, we learned that the ideation and prototyping process is not just a one step process where you settle on one idea. For us, we managed to get inspiration from other can opener designs as well as the biomechanics of the finger and came up with three potential designs. With regards to our team dynamic, each of us learned to communicate more as the project when on, as a collective understanding of the project helped us finish. For a more technical aspect, we learned that theoretical calculations of the kinematics and kinetics of our design will sometimes not match up with the physical output. We found that even though our theoretical calculations gave us a promising answer, we still did achieve that answer due to hardware malfunctions. Overall, the lesson that we learned helped us progress through the semester and finish our project. 

Future Work:

For future work, our immediate plan is to fix the slipping issue we are having with the motor coupler so that our current iteration can open the tab. To do so, our ideas was to either replace the coupler with a new coupler and tighten the coupler on the rod with hex screws instead of set screws as that will provide a tighter grip on the shaft. Another option is to replace the shaft with a D-shaft, which has a flat surface where the screw should be tightened to. This will create more surface area under the screw so that more friction is place between the screw and the shaft and that there is a lip around end of the screw, tightening the grip and losing the potential to slip. 

For far future iterations, we would want to replace the acrylic with metal as that will help us make the internal components of the device stronger. Acrylic is susceptible to cracking and braking faster after many uses, so by changing the components to metal, the components are able to last longer. Furthermore, using metal can help us make the system more compact. With the increase in strength, the component in metal can be shrunken down in size and not be at risk of breaking. This will create a portability aspect to the device and can then be used in everyday households.

Tips For Future Groups:

The one tip from our group is to START EARLY. We ran out of time fixing the issues that we were facing, but more time definitely would help us solve all the issues we were having and produce a prototype that could open a can fully. We would also like to mention that you're first idea may not be the best idea. Always keep an open mind when thinking about problems and how to solve them as a better might have been overlooked.

Acknowledgements:

We would like to thank a couple of key individuals who helped us complete our project.

First, Conner, who gave us great advice on how to simplify our mechanism from an 8-bar to a 4-bar at the beginning and in our calculations to implement a gear system when our system was not outputting enough force with just our motor We would also like to thank our professor, Dr. Symmank and Aayush for helping us with understanding the theoretical aspects of the project. Next, Joe from the TIW machine shop, as he helped us with the machining an end-effector piece for our final build. Finally, we would like to thank every student in our section as they have been very supportive and helpful throughout the course.