Week 4 (7 June – 13 June)
The research team has calculated that the range of motion for 150mm base radius and 100mm platform radius is X, Y: 100mm, pitch, roll, yaw: 45 degrees. This range of motion is good to hear as it far exceeds our requirements for the applications we intend to use the platform for. Nevertheless, these values are theoretical and the actual range of motion should be considerably less especially with the load.
The research team is also re-classified into the coding team as their focus has almost shifted entirely into creating an interface and implementing coding logic with the mathematical equations needed.
A simple Matlab GUI was created by the coding team, linking the mathematical equations to the GUI application and implementing event listeners for all of the components are a work in progress and are expected to take a while to fully complete. This is partially due to less than ideal documentation of Matlab which slows down the development of the code considerably. This progress is in vain though as we realized that in order for our platform to work well, synchronous input will be required and Matlab does not support this feature. We decided to abandon working on Matlab and C++ and use widely available firmware such as Simtools, Mach 3, and Marlin as these software readily support synchronous input.
matlab begone
The issues discovered previously regarding rod lengths changing have been rectified. The motion study is now stable and without error.
The 1st platform plate prototype has finished 3D printing, however, due to print issues, one of the edges of the platform is deformed. This deformity does not seem to affect usability and only affects the aesthetic appearance of the platform.
The optical breadboard was quoted to be $400 from the mechanical workshop in SPMS. As the price on Aliexpress for the same dimensions is lower, we decided to purchase the optical breadboard online.
The ball joints and rods ordered a week ago have finally arrived. However, the rods received were not threaded, hence we are unable to attach the ball joints to it. We will need to 3D print custom rods to replace the defective rods received.
In regards to electronic components, we decided to use an Arduino Ramps 1.4 as the controller and TMC2209 as motor drivers.
MatLab GUI
Rod and Platform assembled together
Magnetic joint and unthreaded rod
Deformed platform
