This week I assisted Chakara for the mechanical components of the rotating platform. I helped pick up components of our platform setup and test that they work. Chakara has included a table of the list of parts for his status report so I will avoid repeating that information here. I tested the laser strip diode and it seemed to work with an input voltage between 3 to 5 volts. The laser strip seems to be a bit wider at closer ranges so we will have to put the laser at a good enough distance for the strip to still be bright but not to be so wide as to mess up our laser detection algorithm. The camera also seems to be of a good resolution when we tested it with Facetime on Chakara’s Macbook, and should be good enough for our project. If not, we have a bit under $200 for getting a better camera or laser if needed.
For the mechanical subsystem of our device (see the design report), we will require significant physical pieces to build both the frame, motor components, and holders of the camera and laser line. This week we have gotten access to a bin to store our physical components as we work on them (bin #17). We have also attended the Tech Spark session to prepare us for laser cutting (for a sheet gear) and 3D printing (for the axis gear). If we find that these gears wear down over usage, we may need to allocate an additional part of our remaining budget to buy metal gears.
I also looked into the gear components and will be looking to create the files necessary to laser cut our acrylic piece as well as create the gear piece to fit onto the stepper motor. Throughout spring break, I will be out of town and will not work extensively on the project, as planned in the Gantt chart. However, I will still aim to create the files for the gear piece and the acrylic. I will also start to assemble our testing database by finding free 3D models online that fit our requirements. After break, I will start writing code for the triangulation step as well as ICP and pairwise registration as described in our design report and presentation.