MEAM 3480 Junior Spring Mechanical Engineering Lab
This was my final project for junior year, and it was super fun.
Goal: make something that moves. My team’s mission: an arcade-style claw machine game full of toy ducks.
This was broken down into 3 systems:
- Overhead gantry for X-Y control
- Winch system for Z control + electromagnet “claw” for picking up duckies
- Outer structure and assembly
I was responsible for the X-Y gantry, making the D-pad controller, and integrating all electronics and code for the final product. There wasn’t much to do in terms of hardware, as we were able to repurpose the Y-Z rails and stepper motors from an old 3D printer 🤭.
The biggest challenge was honestly integrating all our systems together; they were developed pretty separately across different lab sessions. Pictured below is what it looked like before we integrated everything into a single cohesive system.
Originally, I made the D-pad with mechanical keyboard switches and 3D printed keycaps, but we were forced to pivot to pushbuttons and a breadboard at 2am the night before because my at-the-time noob level soldering skills couldn’t stand the test of pro gamer moves 🙃.
The final product worked successfully and was playable!
We even got rather rigorous user testing from about 30+ elementary school girls on a field trip to Penn (not pictured for privacy). It held up pretty well, with only a couple intermediate repairs needed.
All in all, it was a fun successful project and a fun exercise in resourcefulness, and collaboration across teams where I didn’t know every single detail. Coupled with talking to young students about what they wanna be when they grow up and how fun being an engineer is, this was really wholesome ending to my junior year at Penn!