Week 9: Portability & Control
Jack S -
Hello everyone and thank you for tuning into my senior project! This week I continued to make my prototype more compact and lightweight, and I also made it possible for the user to control the exoskeleton without manually changing any wiring each time.
To make the design more compact, I needed to shorten all of the wires. While this sounds pretty straightforward, it takes a while because there are a lot of wires I need to cut, strip, reattach, solder, then insulate while ensuring all the wires remain organized and of a similar length. Due to how many wires and steps this involved, it ended up taking up the majority of my time this week. Luckily, by the end, my device is much lighter and more compact. I tested each wire after shortening and all are still working fine, so this was definitely a success.
The remainder of my time this week was spent experimenting with the pressure sensor that will allow the user to control the exoskeleton in real time. I plan to attach it to the thumb of the exoskeleton and, when it senses a pressure (the hand making contact with an object), it will communicate to the Arduino and cause the other fingers to automatically contract. As I mentioned in a previous blog, I plan to place it on the thumb as placing it on a different finger could create a feedback loop and make it difficult for the hand to unclasp. I first experimented with the sensor independent of the rest of the hand to ensure it works properly and communicates with the Arduino as it should. Once I tested this, I created code that causes the soft actuators to deflate once the sensor is triggered, and inflate once it is not triggered. Now, all I have to do is attach the sensor to the exoskeleton and connect it to the circuit board and Arduino. Going forward, I will focus more on making the device as portable and comfortable as possible. Thank you for reading!
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