6 May 2019
Members present: Denise and Faith
Discussion of project idea and focus with Dr Ho. Out of 4 different ideas, the project on “page flipper” has been chosen by our group members.
Ideation of design of our first product prototype idea starts. Design of first prototype by Caitlyn. Design was sent to Dr Ho for approval.
4 June 2019
Members present: Caitlyn, Xin Jie and Denise
Designing of second product prototype after getting inputs from Tony. Previous prototype was deemed too difficult due to time constraints and lack of prior engineering knowledge of members.
Members tested out suction feasibility and power for flipping of pages in the MnT lab.
Xin Jie to draft out diagram for this prototype for MnT progress meeting 1. Denise and Caitlyn to make the rest of the slides for the meeting; Denise in-charge of project idea and aim, Caitlyn in-charge of timeline creation and budgeting.
6 June 2019
Members present: Caitlyn, Xin Jie and Denise
Progress Meeting 1
Refining of prototype design after collating feedback from the meeting. With consultation with Tony, we are to start sourcing for materials and determine the possible control programs that we would be using.
12 June 2019
Members present: Xin Jie, Denise and Faith
Further refining of prototype design by Denise, after meeting and talking to our supervisor, Kelvin, and Tony.
Discussion of refined design among members present. Faith left at about 12 noon.
Xin Jie and Denise then source and confirm parts that are to be bought after even further discussion with Kelvin. Xin Jie to collate the list and items to be bought and the needed quantity.
Xin Jie to create the refined design at home using Fusion 360.
Meeting ended at 6pm.
14 June 2019
Members present: Caitlyn and Denise
List of items needed, with the quantities desired and necessary links, sent from Xin Jie to Denise. With the list, Denise and Caitlyn ordered and purchased all the listed items.
Denise and Caitlyn learned how to build the structures with the use of aluminium profile.
Denise and Caitlyn crafted the dimensions for the entire machine.
Denise to find and buy (try to buy from shop and not online) the aluminium sheet needed.
Xin Jie to update blog with all prior information and discussion materials.
18 June 2019
Members present: Xin Jie and Denise
Discuss new ideation with Tony and Kelvin.
Xin Jie and Denise, finalise dimensions of the aluminium profile. Then they cut and assemble the profile.
Xin Jie and Denise modify 2 different suction heads to fit 2 different tubings for suction. Tested the suction ability with vacuum cleaner as vacuum source.
19 June 2019
Members present: Xin Jie and Denise
Progress Meeting 2
Xin Jie and Denise confirmed that new ideation is to be the chosen idea for project.
Servo motors, their U-mounts and Raspberry Pi delivered and received.
21 June 2019
Members present: Caitlyn, Xin Jie and Denise
Caitlyn and Denise try out the servo motors that arrive. Caitlyn fixed the servo motors to their U-mounts and Denise went to buy the SD card needed for the Raspberry Pi. They tried to download the Raspberry Pi software but it was taking too long, so this was deemed to be done at home.
After discussing with Tony, they realise that for the specific 2 degree of freedom movement they wish to achieve with the servo motors had to have a specific adapter in place. So Caitlyn measured the specific measurements for the adaptor and Xin Jie to design the adaptor into Fusion 360 for 3D-printing.
Caitlyn and Xin Jie printed the first adaptor but it was too small. So, with Denise, we re-measured and re-designed 2 more ideas. Xin Jie to do the designs on Fusion 360. Xin Jie and Denise to print the new adaptors and try it on the servo motors.
24 June 2019
Members present: Caitlyn, Denise and Faith
We connected 2 of the servo motors together, via the servo motor adaptor, and go the 2 servo motors to be working. We then figured out how to connect the servo motors to the arduino board and Caitlyn has the arduino server and code on her laptop.
After referring to some videos online, we decided that we might not need 3 motors but 2 might suffice.
25 June 2019
Members present: Caitlyn, Xin Jie, Denise and Faith
We printed more adaptors for the servo motors, in consideration of the possibility of addition of more servo motors to achieve greater degrees of freedom.
We tested out various tubings that could be adequate for the suction process and also considered varied suction forms. We decided on getting a suction pump. We also purchased suction cups of various sizes and filaments for 3D printing.
26 June 2019
Members present: Caitlyn, Xin Jie, Denise and Faith
We divided our work individually today for greater efficiency.
Caitlyn tested and refine paper flipper using the 3D arm and the vacuum suction. Xin Jie designed the box/holder that is to hold our vacuum pump and printed it. Faith was to tally and consolidate the accounts and claims, and Denise was in-charge of configuration of the raspberry pi and sd card.
We met Dr Ho and considered the project to be designed for the digitalisation and replacing of 50 exam scripts and took about 50 of such scripts from Dr Ho’s office. After discussing with Tony about possible alternatives of our project (the part of replacement of papers), we sourced and purchased stepper motors and linear actuators.
27 June 2019
Members present: Caitlyn and Denise
Caitlyn to play and try to figure out the stepper motors. Denise to finish waiting for the raspberry pi to load and keep it, and to change the base of the arm.
1 July 2019
Members present: Caitlyn, Denise and Faith
Caitlyn has came out with a servo motor code and to further make it more precise and more “arm-like”. When Caitlyn left for her camp stuff, Faith was to try and figure out Caitlyn’s code and help her with it.
2 July 2019
Members present: Caitlyn, Denise and Faith
Progress meeting 3
4 July 2019
Members present: Caitlyn, Xin Jie and Denise
In consideration of flipping the page, we thought about the possibility of lengthening the flipper arm. Xin Jie to design and print a longer adaptor of the servo motors for the creation of a longer flipper arm.
Caitlyn to try to further adjust the mechanism and refine the coding, with aid of Denise.
5 July 2019
Members present: Caitlyn, Xin Jie and Denise
In the morning, we sat down with Tony to try and refine our project, from the arm to the frame to the replacing mechanism. A lot of changes has been implemented and we are now having a more solidified outlook of the project direction.
With feedback from Dr Ho to try out using a fan to separate the pages. Denise tried to use a wheel to separate the pages but to no avail as the exam scripts are too light and we are not able to implement a barrier due to our replacement idea. Also, to try out alternative of using rollers (printer rollers found in printers) to separate pages. Xin Jie to design and print out a long stick that can function as the roller to separate the papers.
Caitlyn to further refine the arm of the suction. (Which after discussion with Tony, we decided to change where we wanted to fix the arm base to on the frame, and change the number of servo motors and angles all together.)
Denise to play with the raspberry pi and the Logitech camera and test out the ability to digitalise the exam script pages.
By the end of the day, Caitlyn as completed the arm refining to a rough estimation of how the code will be by the end of the project. Denise has determined that the Logitech camera does not provide clear enough photos but this was voided by Dr Ho, as it is not the main essence of the project.
9 July 2019
Members present: Denise
Modification of code from the last time Caitlyn made.
Soldered wires together so that we can just use 1 power source and not 2. With help from Tony and Kelvin, we added another degree of freedom, to give 4 degrees of freedom. Recalibrating angles of the servo motors.
10 July 2019
Members present: Xin Jie and Denise
Denise continues to calibrate the angles needed for the servo motors.
Xin Jie to re-design the roller arm extension as the previously designed one went missing and was remembered to not fit as desired. Xin Jie to work with Tony for the stepper motors.
14 July 2019
Members present: Xin Jie, Denise and Caitlyn
Xin Jie 3D printed 3 roller arm extensions that could be connected to the stepper motors. Denise finalised the angles of the servo motors for the flipping mechanism and Caitlyn tested the stepper motors with the linear actuators.
15 July 2019
Members present: Caitlyn, Denise and Xin Jie
The frame was redone with the vacuum pump and flipping arm attached. We ran out of hammer nuts and went to Hardware City to source for them. Linear actuators with the stepper motors were attached to the bottom of the frame.
16 July 2019
Progress Meeting 4
Members present: Caitlyn, Denise, Xin Jie and Faith
We all helped to realign the linear actuators, to make sure that they were straight.
17 July 2019
Members present: Caitlyn, Denise and Xin Jie
Xin Jie designed and 3D printed a bracket that would fix the suction head in place.
18 July 2019
Members present: Caitlyn and Faith
Caitlyn figured out how to control the direction and movement of the linear actuators while Faith build the platforms, and made sure they were adjusted to the position of the suction head.
19 July 2019
Members present: Caitlyn, Denise, Xin Jie and Faith
We continued to work on the movement of the linear actuators, figuring out the switches and making sure the different components of the prototype are securely attached to the frame.
22 July 2019
Members present: Caitlyn
Extra profiles were put in place to lift the linear actuators off the ground. Supports that fix the linear actuators in place were added as well.
Another problem was identified as the staples on the booklets will cause the stack to tilt, hence the platforms of the booklets are slanted to keep the top level.
24 July 2019
Members present: Caitlyn and Faith
Switches that change the direction of the platforms motion were installed, the home positions of the platforms were calibrated as well. The code for the flipping mechanism, platforms and switches were also combined.
Cable management of the wires of the Arduino board, servo motors, suction pump and stepper motors was done to neaten the prototype.
25 July 2019
Members Present: Caitlyn and Faith
Caitlyn was debugging the code due to new issues with the linear actuators and the flipping mechanism. Faith worked on the friction pick up’s wiring to solder and extend the wires to reach the Arduino board.