Construction and Material Selection
Material Selection
The robot is built mainly of 3/16" clear acrylic with aluminium metal used for the frame. All the joints are assembled with aluminium screws, nylon lock nuts, and polished steel washers. The acrylic was chosen due to its easy of construction with the laser cutter in the Longhorn Maker Studio in ETC. The aluminium metal for the frames along with the screws, nuts, and washers were provided by IEEE Robotics and Automation Society and the assembly of the robot was done in the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society's office in ACA. The metal frame was chosen to provide a sturdy base for the robot and to support the tension required in keeping chain taught while moving the tension away from the acrylic pieces.
Construction
For all the joints, we had originally thought we would need bearings or nylon sheaths inside the joint to reduce the friction in the joint. However, it turns out that there was little friction between the aluminium screws and acrylic plastic that bearings weren't needed. To reduce the sliding friction between two acrylic pieces, we used polished steel washers. Another way we reduced friction in the joint was to use nylon lock nuts on the bolts so that the friction of the nylon on the screw kept the joint together instead of relying on pressure on the joint to keep the nut from unscrewing.
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