This week, I made progress on the specs of the xy-gantry system, as planned from last week. Specifically, I figured out the exact hardware needed for making the xy-gantry. Two V-Slot® NEMA 17 Linear Actuator Bundle are needed to form the basis of the x-y gantry. The stepper motors (NEMA 17) are included in the bundle with the track to move a platform in their axis. We only need to assemble the two bundles on top of each other in order to make the system move. Next, we will need two A4988 stepper motor drives that can seamlessly drive the two motors in the bundle. We will need another module CNC shield to act as the interface between our Arduino UNO board and the drives.
My progress remains on track according to the original schedule. Looking ahead to next week, I aim to focus on ordering and testing the movement of the x-y gantry system. I will start exploring the code to control the movement of the two axis. The final goal of this will be to write an Arduino interface program that can precisely control the stepper motor to move to a specific location given the location of the cross on the gomoku board, yet for next week, since we still need time to order and get the hardware, I will set the goal to successfully connect the hardwares (motors, drivers, cnc shield, and arduino uno), and leave the complete interface development to the week later.