March 7, 2015
Yikes! It’s March already! We’ve been working on the project for 9 months. There are some periods where progress seems to either proceed slowly or in reverse, and other periods where things seem to happen quickly. Today was, thankfully, one of those quick periods.
After several weeks of work, with Gabriel doing the layout, Cole got the control board for the prototype legs working:
This is an important milestone because the board for the final suit will be very similar to this one. This board contains an ATMega328 that controls two cylinders and is capable of communicating with a “master controller” (another Arduino) that gathers data necessary for display on the diagnostic console.
Joseph completed the CAD design of the final legs, hips, and spine. Here is consults with Thelonious on one of the parts:
Thelonious, Ian, and Sammy rapidly measured, cut, welded, and drilled the various parts that will soon be assembled into a second suit:
Each piece sits atop a printout of its specification, which is good way to keep track of which parts do what.
Tony contacted the nice folks at Enfield Technologies this week, the makers of the proportional valves we plan to use to get smooth speed control. The president, Ed Howe, has been very supportive, and Roy Niemann, one of their engineers was super helpful in figuring out exactly what we need and how to use it. (You would think that speed control of pneumatic cylinders would be a standard thing, but for some reason it’s not. Enfield seems to be one of the only ones doing this kind of control, and their products seem really solid and easy to use.)
Connor and Ed took that information and wired up several tests, first on a table top, and then on the prototype elbow:
Another highlight of the day was a delicious lunch from Sol Food, a very popular Puerto Rican restaurant in San Rafael, courtesy of Scott (Cole’s dad):
Finally, the Kickstarter campaign crossed the $5,000 mark today, raised from over 100 backers. Way above our goal, so we should have plenty of funding to complete the project. The promo video has been viewed more than 7,500 times, so word is starting to get out.
Progress continues tomorrow when we meet for another build session. Let’s hope it’s as productive as today!