This past week was quite exciting for JJJ Inc. in a couple of ways. We were finally able to get the servo motor to flip the light switch. This is exciting for us because the servo motor we have (blue motor) is very small with only 1.2 kg/cm of torque. We ended up ordering a more powerful servo motor with 13 kg/cm in torque. As you can see, this new motor should not have a problem with moving the light switch up and down.
Now that we have the mechanism of flipping the switch up and down, we can go ahead and finalize the housing of the motor, possibly the Arduino board, and battery. This is where we run into another problem: getting the correct measurements of the housing that will allow us to mount the motor in the perfect location. We expect to have these calculations down this upcoming Monday so we can start 3D printing (possibly) the final housing prototype. Other than that, the code to controlling the Arduino is pretty much set. Implementing the Bluetooth module with the Arduino won’t be hard. What will be hard is putting everything together in the housing. For this reason, we might just run cables to the box and not have the Arduino or battery in the housing for the working prototype. Ideally, we would like to be able to fit everything into the smallest box possible.
Hey Jorge,
Today when you were talking about your prototype, I definitely could picture the usefulness of this product. I love how this is targeted for either disabled people and maybe even lazy people! Keep up the good work. I love the design. Maybe your team can consider making the laser cutting with clear acrylic instead of wood!
Odelia
Hey Jorge,
Great to see that you finally got the mechanical parts you need for your prototype! It’d be great to see it once you start getting it working. I wonder how you will solve the issue with cable management and getting it into the smallest box possible. Definitely prototyping with the Fab Lab will help. Their ability to laser cut wooden boxes is a lot faster than 3D printing our prototypes.