[Wayne C.]

re 1089's Quicksilver machine

1089 has no hand to pick up boxes. They hook them under the lip of the box or the handles. Look at the gallery pix to see what I mean

The mechanism is so simple it is obvious but it requires that the boxes be flipped upright.

SOooo- if you look at their mechanism the hooks are on top of a pneumatic arm. As the arm swings up the face of the mechanism is held vertical .

However that means the boxes, with their overhanging lids and shape, hook on at a tilted angle.

To rectify that underneath the arm is an extension covered with rubber foam. As the arm swings up the extension swings out progressively more and the boxes are kept vertical.

To upright boxes the raised arm is lowered on top of the misoriented box. The rubber extension surface adheres to the plastic with a slight friction and with a short pull back by the robot the box flips up. The way it is all oriented the box is about 3 inches in front of and perfectly lined up with the hooking mechanism and that means an easy connection there.

They also have a finger to flip boxes and guide the driver into optimal hooking position. The can flip boxes efficiently from any position. The can hook from all 4 sides of the bins.

This thing works VERY well and I have watched them stack up to six boxes that way. They do 3-4 easily. The higher stacks are a bit unstable when lowered. They ALWAYs are able to flip the box on the first or second try.

BTW- the idea came at a time when they were about 10 lbs overweight and looking to build a grasping arm. One of the students was playing with the incomplete base and accidentally hooked the box on the plastic connector of the incomplete hand. The rest was crazy brainstorming, pizza in hand and snow coming down. It saved a good 6 lbs.


BTW2- Team 25's robot can also upright boxes with our wings but in no way as efficiently.

Too bad 1089 will only be going to Rutgers because this device is a really neat thing to see in action.

WC
team 25