Doug’s Kitchen Robot, ECE 480, Senior Capstone DesignDepartment of Electrical & Computer Engineering Michigan State UniversitySpring 2011Design TeamThomas MannerKa Kei YeungDaniel PhanAli Alsatarwah Sponsored by: RCPD Representative: Professor Stephen Blosser Executive Summary: The goal of our project is to construct a wall mounted robotic arm to help a quadriplegic person be more independent. The arm is designed to help him cook and lift heavy object such as a pot of boiling water. This arm will move in X-Y-Z directions, and will have a gripper that rotates. It will be operated using a wireless joystick controller, with knobs that are designed specifically for people with limited muscular movements. Pre-ProposalFebruary 03, 2011ECE 480 Team 3Facilitator: Professor Lixin Dong i.Table of Contents1.Introduction1.1 Customer Needs/Requirements2.Background 3.Design Specifications 1.Safety2.Function3.Quality/Reliability4.Energy Consumption5.Aesthetic/Size6.Human Interaction4.FAST Diagram 5.Comparison of Conceptual Designs6.Proposed Design Solution 7.Risk Analysis1.Power2.Speed3.Gripper4.Torque5.Testing8.Project Management Plan9.Budget10.References1. Introduction For Doug, who is a young quadriplegic man, independence is of the utmost importance. One desire that Doug has is to be able to cook independently without help from anyone. Although the house that is being built for Doug will have accommodations for his quadriplegia, he would an assistance for cooking. Doug cannot generate enough muscle power to lift and move heavy pots of water, food, and other items in his kitchen. The goal of our design project is to build a wall mounted robotic arm to assist Doug in lifting and moving items within the confines of his countertop, stove, and sink. The robotic arm should be interfaced with a three joystick wireless controller that is designed for easy operation. 1.1 Customer Needs/Requirements The idea of the design project is to build a robotic arm to assist a quadriplegic person named Doug in cooking his own food. In order to assess the customer needs and requirements, an interview with Doug and the sponsor is necessary. In the interview with the sponsor, the basic requirements of the robotic arm will need to be established. Examples of the following are listed below:●The lifting strength of the robotic arm●Whether the movements of the robotic arm will be Cartesian or Joint●How many degrees of freedom will the robotic arm have ●What microcontroller and software should be usedIn the interview with Doug, who is to receive the end product, questions should be more on a functionality basis. Examples would include the following:●What kind of joystick will make the robotic arm easier to operate?●Would a wireless controller make it easier to operate?●What other functions besides lifting heavy pots would be needed to assist him in cooking?The constraints for this design project are mainly monetary and time issues. The motors, amplifiers, microcontroller, and other mechanical parts will push our budget to its limits. As for the time issue, the amount of features of the robotic arm will have to be limited to ensure completion of the robot arm. The criteria for determining the feasibility of the project design is whether the robotic arm can accomplish its basic functions in the most efficient way. Since the mechanical parts are most expensive, the design of the actual robotic arm will need to be efficient.The criteria for ranking the feasible designs would include the following:●Is the design an efficient in its movements?●Will the robotic arm be simple to operate?●Can the robotic arm accomplish all the basic functions specified by the customer?●Are there too many unnecessary features that cannot be realistically accomplished within the semester?One conceptual design for a Cartesian Robotic Arm is shown in figure 2. Figure 1: Concept I – Triple Joint Robotic Arm Figure 2: Concept II – Wall-Mounted Cartesian Robotic ArmFigure 3: Concept III – Wall Mounted Cartesian Robotic Arm (2 Axes) with Rotating Arm 2. BACKGROUND The goal of this project is to construct a manual robotic arm that is capable to lift and move heavy kitchenware. The design aims to help a quadriplegic person, Doug be more independent. It specifically aims to fulfill his desire to cook regularly but does not have the muscular versatility or power to perform these tasks. There are many robotic arms in the market designed for quadriplegics and people with other physical disabilities. However, most of these commercial products, especially the automatic modules, are capable of lifting only light objects such as bowls and cups. These available designs mostly focus on precision and versatility rather than the ability to handle heavy payloads. In addition, a pilot study conducted by the University of Central Florida found that most users preferred manual controls and considered the automated designs “too easy”1. In order to satisfy the specific goals of this project, this design could simplify to Cartesian robotic arm, which means it would move linearly in the X, Y and Z directions. By installing a sturdy gripper tothe bottom of the Z arm, it is sufficient to move heavy objects across a kitchen counter, as long as the parts used are manufactured to handle these payloads. The arm will be operated manually with a controller console consisting of a combination of joysticks, with knobs that are customized for quadriplegics. 3. Design Specifications: Important specifications in designing the Doug’s Kitchen robot need to be achieved are: Safety, function quality/ reliability, Aesthetics/size, Energy consumption, and human operation of the robot. 3.1 Safety The safety concern about robotic arm is mainly on the risk of electrical shock and the unexpected movement or the failure of the robotic arm. An electrical shock could result from uses of high voltage and high current, as well as water conductances. To solve this issue, fuses are being considered in many parts of our circuit as they are convenient, inexpensive and easy to replace. A fuse works will terminate its short circuit connection and thus create an open circuit to block the flow of current. Dealing with water or any conductive liquid is one of the sources of electrical shock or a device malfunction. The team is aiming to utilise waterproof component especially with the gripper and the arm in the z direction, which might
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