Machine Design - Button Pressing Competition Machine
As a team, we were tasked with designing, building, coding, and tuning a machine to hit buttons in a randomly generated order on the "playing field" as quickly as possible while minimizing mechanism volume and transmission angle deviation. We received a $100 budget, not including the motor, Arduino, and aluminum stock.
On the project management side, I pushed the team with early brainstorming sessions and progress checkpoints while creating documentation and spreadsheets to track deliverables and spending. On the technical side, I did 100% of the electronics, Arduino coding, and PID control tuning while also contributing to CNC machining, linkage system synthesis, and CAD modeling.
| Part | Manufacturing Task |
|---|---|
| Ground Link | Waterjet, drilled holes, reamed holes, press fit dowel pins and sleeve bearings |
| Gear | Drilled holes through gear for mounting to input link, press fit sleeve bearing |
| Pinion | Drilled hole through gear for set screw attachment, tapped hole |
| Input Link | Waterjet, drilled holes, reamed holes, press fit sleeve bearings |
| Hard Stop 2 | Lathe |
| Follower link | Waterjet, drilled holes, reamed holes, press fit sleeve bearings |
| Hard stop 1 | Lathe |
| Spacer 1 | Lathe |
| Coupler | Waterjet, drilled holes, reamed holes, press fit sleeve bearings |
| Spacers 2-4 | Lathe |
| 3-D Printed Bonus Button Pieces | Designed, 3D printed, finished |
| Spacer 5 | Lathe |
| 3-D Printed Pieces for Solenoid | Designed, 3D printed, filed down |
| Motor Mounting Piece | Designed, 3D printed, filed down |