Electric Grabber
In order to design a grabbing mechanism that would be able to lift a cup of a given diameter, MATLAB was used to find the geometry of the mechanism that would allow the desired motion of the grabber arms. A worm gear system was used to power the gears that move the arms. The grabber was first modeled using Solidworks to ensure proper meshing of the gears and motion of the arms, and then the parts were 3D printed to create a prototype of our design. An electric motor was attached to the worm gear to move the arms, and rubber strips added more grip to the pads in contact with the cup. The prototype was able to lift the cup as intended.