Thesis:
I am getting there now with finishing up my appendices, it has been quite a difficult task to get these in the order I think best flows. I need to now start writing some parts of the opening body of the thesis that I have left till last. I wanted to leave these parts till the very end as it is all about summarising and breaking down the main parts of the study into a few paragraphs. I addition I also need to finish doing the contents page, I have been doing this as I have gone along sort of but there has been changes to titles and chapters numbers have moved up and down with text expansion and formatting. I have also run the main text through turn it in to check for any issues concerning plagiarism, I cannot see anything that pops out at me as I have made sure that I meticulously reference and record all my source usage.
Model:
This session is based around attaching the robotic hand and arm to the internal aluminium chassis of the robot. The arm is operated manually via hand but is capable of full rotation and outwards movement. The parts finally arrived from over sees and the box was about the size of a small child so I can now see why it took so long to turn up. The main part of the inner structure is formed simply by connecting aluminium robotics brackets together using hex bolts. It only took a few hours to complete this as it was all pretty straight forward and I had already worked out exactly how many parts I would need using the internal dimensions on the body armour. The arm is connected to the body using two long U brackets that are normally used to attach servos to multinational robot brackets. I decided to construct the arm this was as it is a strong, durable and cost effective material. It also aesthetically fits in with the rest of the structure as it is made and painted using the same processes.
I have also purchased a speaker stand to fit the robot on top of, this came with a flat top with holes in which after a bit of adaptation with a drill fit the holes on the aluminium body perfectly, I used L brackets to secure the body to the stand and long hex bolts and nuts to keep it in place. It feels really sturdy but at the same time quiet light considering its size. I think this is the bonus of using aluminium instead of other metals or materials.
Feelings
I feel very happy at the moment, my long awaited package has arrived and things have moved on super quick with the project. I just hope I do not need any more parts from China as its pretty clear that they will most likely not arrive before the deadline.
Evaluation
The body and arm look great, I need to think of a way to attach the neck to the upper torso, I think the best way to do this is to copy the same formula as I used for attaching the body to the base of the speaker stand. However, when I have lined up the robotic rotational neck base to the top of the torso there is a bit of overlap on each side. This may prove problematic when trying to fit this flush on to the body. Another possible way of doing this may be to use metal bonding glue but because the aluminium is painted black I think that the glue will more likely stick to this coating that the actual metal itself which would leave an insecure bond.
Analysis
The current situation of the project makes sense, I believe that both elements are now running at the same pace and its getting to the point now where its becoming very exciting. I am still however playing catch up a bit with the delays in shipping, but i am sure that I can soon get back on track now I have all the materials and tools I need at my disposal.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the arm and the body look really neat and its starting to feel like a real robot. I held the head above the body roughly where I think it will go and at what height and I think this will be a beast when its all connected together. I guess its going to be around the 6ft-7ft height range. This may prove difficult when I ship it all over to uni, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it.. I can always buy him his own seat on the train I guess.
Action Plan
I need to finish of some bits and bobs on the arm so I can wire the cables up to the hand. Its just a case of securing the pulleys I purchased on line. I will get to that in the next few days after I have finished drafting the intro summary of my thesis.
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