Midterm Project

I wanted the arm to only wave when it sensed a “wave” back and the code for that was significantly harder than I thought it would be. I needed to first average out the results when the board was turned on to allow for it to work in different environments, then “look” for a wave. That meant that the arm couldn’t move as soon as it sensed the hands shadow, but needed to wait until that hand passed. I also didn’t want the bot to wave back if you just held your hand over its face.

I like that the movement of the arm is smooth, and the way it can distinguish between a wave and someone just interacting with the photocell.

Something that’s unique to this project is the custom gear and lever system built by combining K’NEX and Instamorph. Crafting the gear took a good amount of testing to have enough incline to create a wave-like motion, but still function consistently and smoothly. One advantage of Instamorph was that I was able to mold the actual lever directly to the motor so the entire apparatus is significantly more stable than anything else I’ve done for this class.