Project Background
The multi-agent construction gentry project is a physical gantry with two end-effectors that work in collaboration with one another to build one cohesive structure. Each end-effector has 4 degrees of freedom (x, y, z, theta) along with a gripper attached to the end for picking and placing cans.
As an undergraduate researcher working on this project, I have worked on various parts of the gantry including designing a cable management system, developing the control codebase in C++, and helping close the control loop for building complete structures. To close the control loop, I have developed both a new end-effector with z-height feedback for can contact detection and an automatic can feeding mechanism to dispense a can to the end-effectors when a new one is required. These contributions are described in more detail and on their respective pages linked below
Sub-System Contributions
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Cable Management
As a beginning project for this system, I was tasked with efficiently routing the cables throughout the entire gantry. In addition to ordering parts for this sub-system, I also used SolidWorks to design mounts for the drag chain and 3-D printed them on the labs Prusa’s.
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Z-Height Feedback End-Effector
Tasked with closing the control loop for picking up and placing the can building blocks, I designed a new end-effector that used a limit switch to detect when a can had been reached. This solved the issues resulting from an unleveled floor that had been occurring with the previous end-effector.
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Automatic Can Feeding
To further close the control loop for the gantry, I also implemented an automatic can feeding mechanism in which a can could be placed in any orientation on a conveyor belt, and the gantry would automatically pick it up.