Date of Award

5-6-2024

Degree Type

Capstone Project

First Advisor

Bahram Nassersharif

Abstract

The Universal Payload Gripper project tackles a unique and difficult challenge posed by NUWC. The challenge is to design an inflatable finger that has both load and sharpness sensing. The finger should also be scalable and be able to adapt to many payload tube sizes and environments. For background, the purpose of this challenge is to allow for the further utilization of older payload tubes to hold bulky, fragile, and sensitive payloads. The payload tube is to be filled with many inflatable cones called fingers that surround the payload to fix it in place. As the team does not know the exact nature of the payload, the finger has to have sensing capabilities to prevent damage to both the payload and itself. The team also aims to have a state-based control system to ensure efficient and methodical control over the prototype.

Since being posed with the challenge, the team has conceptualized possible solutions to the problem. These concepts include possible inflation, load sensing, and sharpness sensing techniques. Rapid concept generation, Pughs analysis, QFD Analysis, and CDR advice from peers were used to refine the team's ideas. Once decided upon, the team worked to prove the concepts developed over the year. The team successfully demonstrated the inflation and deflation of a two-material finger using inexpensive and accessible parts. The team also successfully demonstrated load and sharpness sensing with an array of thin film pressure sensors. The full gripper finger design worked flawlessly, and met all of the team's design requirements. The process and progress the team made this year is documented below.

Comments

Team Name: Team 05

Company Sponsor: Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC)

Sponsor Representative: Michael Ansay

Document Reference: URI-MCE-CAP-FDR-2024-05

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