With the final delivery of our prototype due in just a few days, Catherine and I are scrambling to get things together. For the last week we have been fighting a constant battle with physics, some not so simple geometry and our tired brains.
Problems #1 - Not enough power!
One of the first problems that we ran into was that our single servo was not powerful enough to pull our high-five arm back! This is a major flaw due to the lack of power, the weight of the hand, and the tension in our spring. We are also lost some of our pulling power due to the friction of running the string through our simple pulley. We managed to put together a work around using two servos pulling at the same time! We also utilized a skateboard bearing to make a makeshift pulley with a lot less friction. This worked perfectly. Luckily we thought ahead and made all of the connection points to the arm adjustable and we found the happy spot so that the arm pulls back properly while still maintaing adequate force in the arm for the high-five.
Problem #2 - The stupid latch!
We left the latching of the arm towards the end, and that was a mistake. Catherine and I tried multiple variations of latches and triggering mechanisms to no avail. The problem was that we needed to catch the arm when it pulls back at just the right moment, and still have control over when that arm was released. Seems simple enough... haha! We tried a multiple styles of latches and hinges (including hinges from a pair of cheap glasses) which ended in total failure and tears. After many trials and errors we managed to come up with a pretty simple and elegant solution. I am not sure why we didn't think about this in the first place!
Problem #3 - Technology Problems!
Today we lost one of our computers. Catherine must have been pressing down on her track pad a little too hard in her excitement to put together the LDH5 that she broke her computer. She just left it at the Apple store and we will have it back hopefully some time tomorrow! Also, we seem to have blown one of our distance sensors! Ordered another one!
Here are some images of our Long Distance High-Five Machine! It is mechanically working, and we have most of the code up and running. Due to the problems listed above we were forced to use up most of our supplies for the first table! We have ordered additional servos that should be here in the next day or so. Once we receive the last parts we will need to haul ass and get the second table together!
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