Date of Award

2022

Degree Type

Capstone Project

First Advisor

Dr. Bahram Nassersharif

Second Advisor

TA's: Ashutosh Kumar & Hojat Heidaribafroui

Abstract

ChemArt is an ornament manufacturer for high quality ornaments used for fund raisers and special events. The companies busiest time of the year is around the holiday season, in which the White House Historical Association is their most prevalent production run. Team 7 was assigned a challenge by ChemArt to improve upon the current ornament tying process. Currently, the company uses manual labor in order to string and tie the ornaments right before they are packaged for sale. ChemArt would like to raise production without raising unit price. To do this the team was assigned with making a mechanism, whether it be fully autonomous, semi-autonomous, or completely manual that will increase the production rate. The team chose a semi-autonomous system, in which the first step in the tying process is done automatically, while the knotting process is then done by hand. Since inserting the string into the small ornament hole is the costliest step, this is the one the team focused upon. The design of this system revolves around a robotic arm and a rail system which combine to maneuver and string the ornament. The robotic arm is moved around with a suction cup attached to the end of it to pick and place the ornament. It starts by picking up an ornament directly from the previous step in the manufacturing process and placing it into a mount which is located under a pneumatic cylinder that punches the ribbon through the ornament hole. Before the ornament it moved into position a pneumatic gripper moves on a rail system powered by a stepper motor to pull the ribbon across. Once the ribbon and ornament are in place the ribbon is pushed through the ornament hole by one cylinder and it is cut by another. The combination of pneumatic and stepper motor inputs is controlled by an Arduino timing the systems actions. The Arduino code was developed through the course of the semester to be able to control all inputs in sync. Once the ornament is strung it will be placed upon another turn table where the tying process can be completed by hand.

Comments

Team Name: Team 7

Sponsor: ChemArt

Sponsor Representative: Nicholas Jones

Document Reference: URI-MCE-402-07-2022

Download

Share

COinS