As seen from the previous post, we made a first attempt of putting the motor housing on the forearm on the hand. This proved to be not feasible. Considering the fact that our product is mainly for the purpose of rehabilitation, convenience of bringing the product around was weighed down as we began exploring alternative placements of the motor housing.
Another possible configuration would be placing the motors on the table, beside the arm (as can be seen in Figure 1). This would be relatively convenient as well, in that the box can be easily carried around and placed on whichever table is being used for rehabilitation, which is good enough for our aims.
Figure 1: Motor Housing on the Side of the Arm
However, upon trying it, we found that this might not be as optimal for a few reasons.
- By placing the box to the side of the arm, the cables would have to be redirected from being directly above the arm to the side of the arm, which would require the wires to bend. This bending might not be possible, especially for the nylon wires attached to the finger parts that are furthest away from the box.
- To reduce the bending of wires, we could run longer nylon cables through the parts. However, this would mean that the wires would be less taut. This in turn increases the likelihood of cables tangling, and may also affect the effectiveness of the spooling.
We will be thinking of other better solutions.
Summary of Pros and Cons of Motors on the Side
| + | - |
|---|---|
| Convenient (Portable) | Cables have to bend weirdly |
| Require longer cables: less taut, tangle easily |