Braxton Kyle Bensel

G#: 801101065

Assigment 2: Planning Strategy

Problem Statement: Create a device that will allow users to obtain hand sanitizer hands-free and easily.

Assumptions

Going in, I already know I want to use some sort of pump (likely a Peristaltic Pump as they're pretty easy to utilize and typically have a built in motor or servo. I also know that I want to really make this unique so utilizing something other than motion sensing or going above and beyond are main goals of this project (since I don't have to actually design it, I can say I'll do things like object recogniziton which I have absolutely NO idea how to program.)

Gantt Chart

Gantt Chart Image and PDF

Click on the Gantt Chart to download it!

Three Strategies

Strategy #1: Simple and Elegant

A simple, static hand sanitizer dispenser that notices movement.

Functional Requirements	Design Parameters	Analysis	References	Risks	Countermeasures
Power Supply	Li-Po Battery	P=VI	ECGR 2161	Punctures can cause battery spills	Mount battery in safe and secure location
	Lead Acid Battery	P=VI	ECGR 2161	VERY heavy battery	Mount in secure place, account for extra weight
	Plugged into outlet	P=VI	ECGR 2161	Unfathomably dangerous (for me)	Design failsafe, use bathroom outlet
Sanitizer Delivery	Peristaltic Pump	P=Pressure*Flow Rate	MEGR 2156	Delivery is non-continuous (Choppy flow)	Is simply part of design, can be accounted for in Delivery Timing.
	Gear Pump	P=Pressure*Flow Rate	MEGR 2156	Will require custom seating inside of sanitizer tank.	Design custom sanitizer tank with Gear Pump.
	Piston Pump	P=Pressure*Flow Rate	MEGR 2156	Advanced transfer of motion may result in failure (Need vertical motion from horizontal motor)	Careful design of gearbox with proper tolerances.
Detecting Hands/Delivery Timing	Ultrasonic Sensor	P=VI	sparkfun.com	Slow response rate.	Account for slow response rate in programming.
	VCSEL	P=VI	sparkfun.com	Very low maximum range.	Make sure design accounts for limited range.
	LIDAR	P=VI	sparkfun.com	Very high current draw and incredibly expensive.	Maybe pick one of the more reasonable options.

Strategy #2: Modern and Innovative

A unique hand sanitizer dispenser that can also be triggered through advanced means.

Functional Requirements	Design Parameters	Analysis	References	Risks	Countermeasures
Power Supply	Li-Po Battery	P=VI	ECGR 2161	Punctures can cause battery spills	Mount battery in safe and secure location
	Lead Acid Battery	P=VI	ECGR 2161	VERY heavy battery	Mount in secure place, account for extra weight
	Plugged into outlet	P=VI	ECGR 2161	Unfathomably dangerous (for me)	Design failsafe, use bathroom outlet
Sanitizer Delivery	Peristaltic Pump	P=Pressure*Flow Rate	MEGR 2156	Delivery is non-continuous (Choppy flow)	Is simply part of design, can be accounted for in Delivery Timing.
	Gear Pump	P=Pressure*Flow Rate	MEGR 2156	Will require custom seating inside of sanitizer tank.	Design custom sanitizer tank with Gear Pump.
	Piston Pump	P=Pressure*Flow Rate	MEGR 2156	Advanced transfer of motion may result in failure (Need vertical motion from horizontal motor)	Careful design of gearbox with proper tolerances.
Detecting Hands/Delivery Timing	Sparkfun Sound Detector	P=V*I	sparkfun.com	Only filters noise by audio levels.	Will require programming to acknowledge certain trigger words.
	Microphone + Speech Processing Software	P=V*I	sparkfun.com	Will require complex computing capabilities (Will likely use VoiceMod software)	Will have to include some sort of computing device to support voice processing.
	Qwiic Loudness Sensor	P=V*I	sparkfun.com	Only filters noise by audio levels.	Will require programming to acknowledge certain trigger words.

Strategy #3: Excessive and Brilliant

An excessive robot that will detect verbal commands, move via drivetrain, and deliver hand sanitizer to people.

Functional Requirements	Design Parameters	Analysis	References	Risks	Countermeasures
Power Supply	Li-Po Battery	P=VI	ECGR 2161	Punctures can cause battery spills	Mount battery in safe and secure location
	Lead Acid Battery	P=VI	ECGR 2161	VERY heavy battery	Mount in secure place, account for extra weight
	Plugged into outlet	P=VI	ECGR 2161	Unfathomably dangerous (for me)	Design a failsafe, use bathroom outlet
Sanitizer Delivery	Peristaltic Pump	P=Pressure*Flow Rate	MEGR 2156	Delivery is non-continuous (Choppy flow)	Is simply part of design, can be accounted for in Delivery Timing.
	Gear Pump	P=Pressure*Flow Rate	MEGR 2156	Will require custom seating inside of sanitizer tank.	Design custom sanitizer tank with Gear Pump.
	Piston Pump	P=Pressure*Flow Rate	MEGR 2156	Advanced transfer of motion may result in failure (Need vertical motion from horizontal motor)	Careful design of gearbox with proper tolerances.
Locomotion	4 Wheel AWD	C=2*pi*r	Robotics Experience	Requires additional motors or servos.	Shell out the extra money for extra motors.
	4 Wheel FWD	C=2*pi*r	Robotics Experience	Requires calibrating to ensure the drive works properly.	Put special care into fabrication and programming of drive train.
	Swerve Drive	Advanced machining, Vector mathematics (programming)	Robotics Experience	Very complicated, requires extensive machining and programming capabilties.	Get over it, Swerve is cool and it's worth it.
Vertical Movement (Delivery of Sanitizer)	Linear Slide	W=F*D	Me! I've made lots of them.	Can be unstable if not supported properly or too much weight is added.	Use a generous safety factor and make sure assembly is sturdy.
	Scissor Lift	W=F*D	chiefdelphi.com	Can be considerably unstable.	Make sure tolerances are tight or potentially use a double scissor lift.
	Static Height	Sum of forces (X,Y)	Statics	Tall profile is potentially dangerous.	Minimize height or use expanding option.
Target Aquisition	Vision Processing	Advanced Programming	wpilib.org	May not be able to aquire initial target.	Account for this in code, potentially implement methods such as rotations to find target
	Audio Processing	Advanced Programming	wpilib.org	Will struggle with exact location of target.	May need multiple sensors to precisely locate.
	Vision + Audio Processing	Advanced Programming	wpilib.com	Systems may disagree and cause conflicts.	Create programming to deal with conflicts in a scheduled manner.

Formulas and That Stuff

Honestly there isn't much computation to be done right now at this point. The first two strategies will require some sort of small commercial battery and a pump. The energy usage of the pump and the volumetric flow of the pump will all be dependent on the tubing used and the pumps sourced, but the general equations for these are simply Power=Voltage*Current and Flow Rate = Cross-Sectional Area*Velocity of the fluid.

The third strategy will add locomotion, and will require distance travelled which is C=2*pi*r but that depends on the sourced wheel size. Then the wheels will also determine the Coefficient of Friction for the robot which will let us factor in wheel slip into travel distance. The battery and pump will operate similarly to the first two strategies, and the linear slide that extends vertically will need a strong enough force to counteract the weight of the slide in the form of F=mass*gravity. This force can be turned into power by multiplying it by the diameter of the motor used.

Don't get me wrong- there's a lot of math to be done for this project, but none of it really serves a purpose until the finer details are organized. But all of the math that WILL be done is mentioned above.

Lessons Learned

1) Wow. Containers are hard. Like, really hard. But hey they look really nice!
2) Gantt Charts are difficult to make when I don't have the due dates for assignments.
3) Perhaps the most extravagant design isn't always the best. I'm still going to do it though.
4) I haven't learned this lesson but I want to figure out: How do hydraulics (in my case, sanitizer travelling through a tube) factor into the DoF of an assembly.

Activity Date and Time

10/7/2020: Worked on the FRDPARRC tables and completed them from 11:00PM to 3:00AM

10/7/2020: Worked on the Gantt Chart and had to strangle HTML containers for like an hour from 4:00PM to 7:00 PM

10/7/2020: After finishing Materials homework, I finished up the website from 10:30 to 12:00

Advice for Advisee

Last updated: 10/7/2020 at 10:45PM EST. Link to their page: Brigitta Fejer-Simon

1) I'm not positive but I think I'm your advisor and you're meant to advise the person above you, but I could be wrong ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
2) I think the project you're working on looks great! Honestly the biggest suggestion is definitely to go for one of the purely mechanical and non-electric solutions, just because it's feasible and so much simpler.
3) Everything looks really solid though! I like the concept a lot.