Applications and Implications

Fab Academy 2018

Week #17

What will it do?

My project will be a small car robot with pen holder axis and changeable pen's ability. A pen or pen knife could be fixed so the robot could draw or cut desired shapes on paper following code instructions. Two bipolar stepper motor will controlled to generate the desired shapes. Other servo motor used to control pen knife position.

Who's done what beforehand?

Arduino car robots are very famous, widespread and multi-application project. Similar to my idea there are many people making a drawing, simple Arduino cars, but I didn't until now found anyone made a cutter car!
Examples of some projects:

• Arduino Drawing Robot
  
  



• Low-Cost, Arduino-Compatible Drawing Robot
  
  



• Mirobot
  
  
  
• Commertial mDrawBot -mCar
  Reviwe of mCar
  
  

What will you design?

I will design a

• The base of the robot
• The Wheels
• Up and down pen mechanism
• PCB board to connect motors and sensors

What materials and components will be used?
& Where will come from?
& How much will they cost?

Components:

Component	Name	Supplier	Quantity	Datasheet	Cost per Unit
	Nema17 Stepper Motor	Lab inventory	2	NEMA17	17$
	Pololu A4988 Stepper Driver	Mikroelectron	2	Pololu	6$
	HS-422 servo motor	Lab inventory	1	HS-422 motor	15$
	Paper Cutter Craft Pen Knives	Local Market	2	- -	5$
	IR Infrared Obstacle Avoidance Sensor	Lab inventory	2	- -	1$
	12 volt rechargeable battery	Local Market	1	- -	22$
	Universal Wheel	Lab inventory	1	- -	2$
	M3 and M4 screws and nuts	Lab inventory	Nearly 40	- -	2$

Materials:

• 5mm thickness MDF Wood for the base of the robot.
• 3mm thickness acrylic for pen holder mechanism.
• PLA for the rim of the wheels and other printed parts.
• FilaFlex 3D for the tire of the wheels.

Fortunately, all materials are already in the lab inventory.

What parts and systems will be made?

I will made :

• Base
• Wheels
• Stepper motor holder brackets
• Pen holder up and down mechanism
• Control board
• Cover

What processes will be used?

I'll use these processes:

• 2D and 3D design
• Laser cutting
• 3D printing
• Electronics Design & Production
• Embedded Programming
• Input & Output Devices
• Interface & Application Programming
• Networking & Communication

What questions need to be answered?

• How could I transfer precise instructions to the stepper motors to correctly move and generate the desired shapes?
• How could I fix the paper while cutting?
• How could I control knief's position to cut successfuly?

What is the schedule?

• Design pen up, down mechanism Deadline 5th June
• Fabricate all mechanical part components and assemble them Deadline 8th June
• Test robot's linear and curve motion Deadline 9th June
• Design electronic board and mill it Deadline 11th June
• Solder and connect all electronic parts Deadline 13th June
• Modify the code to draw predefined shapes using G-code Deadline 16th June

How will it be evaluated?

• Structure balance.
• Car smooth movement and turning.
• Pen and knife up and down in a stable motion.
• Ability to draw both lines and curves correctly.
• Ability to cut both lines and curves correctly.
• Car controlled using my own designed PCB board.
• Beautiful and functional cover.