Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
39 Robotic T-shirt Launcher Mark III
 Jiakai Zheng
Mingchen Li
Shenao Wang
Xiao Luo
 design_document1.pdf
final_paper1.pdf
final_paper2.pdf
proposal1.pdf
proposal2.pdf
 Timothy Lee
## Team Members
Li Mingchen (ml110),
Zheng Jiakai (jiakaiz4),
Wang Shenao (shenaow2),
Luo Xiao (xiaoluo5)

## Project Title
**Robotic T-shirt Launcher Mark III**

## Problem
1.The previous version of MARK II is excessively bulky for convenient portability and usage. It is imperative to reduce the dimensions and weight of the T-shirt launcher.

2.The shirt launcher is equipped with insufficient spare ammunition. It is necessary to ensure a minimum of three shots or enhance its firing rate.

3.To address system uncertainties, a comprehensive risk assessment should be conducted during the design phase to identify potential sources of uncertainty and their potential impacts. Mitigation strategies, such as redundant safety mechanisms, backup systems, and robust testing procedures, can be incorporated to minimize the effects of uncertainty on the system's performance and reliability.


## Solution Overview
While preserving the achievements of ROBOTIC's T-SHIRT LAUNCHER MARK II, our team will address critical flaws. For example, the MARK II was too large and heavy for its function, and the MARK II fired too slowly. In addition, in terms of automation of the system, we will also try to achieve the unfinished goals of the MARK II and ensure safety by optimizing the launch trajectory.


## Solution Components
Launcher system: The launcher system consists of an air chamber made up of gas cylinders, gas cylinders used to inflate the air chamber, an inlet valve, an exhaust valve, an exhaust trigger, and a barometer (for detecting the air pressure in the air chamber). These components are used to rapidly inflate and launch the T shirt through differential air pressure.

Two Degree of Freedom Targeting Gimbal: This targeting gimbal consists of a stepper motor, reduction gear sets and aluminum frame structures. It consists of two degrees of freedom of motion, which enables precise control of the pitch and horizontal rotation angles in a stable manner while achieving light weight. The purpose is to adjust the position of the launcher in 3D space after receiving electrical signals from the control system so that the T-Shirt can be successfully launched to the desired place.

Control System: The Control System plays a crucial role in efficiently managing the components of the system. It encompasses a gimbal controller, actuator controllers, electromagnetic valves, and a microcontroller like Arduino. They work together to ensure smooth and accurate operations, control the release of compressed air and keep the pressure in safe operating limits.

Automation System: For the case of use on the gimbal, we want the launcher to be able to fire automatically. Therefore, the system should have a suitable function to automatically adjust the direction and force of the launch according to the situation. In addition, for safety reasons, the system will include a computer vision module to conduct spectator behaviour recognition to avoid potential accidents, such as stampedes.


## Criterion for Success
Functionality of Launcher: The launcher should be able to fire T-shirts. The force of the launch can be changed by controlling the air pressure inside the launcher at the time of launch. The system should be able to simplify the operation by pre-loading the T-shirt in a certain amount. The operator can easily operate the transmitter with the trigger.

Firing Rate: The launcher should have a relatively fast firing rate, which is determined by three key factors: the rate at which the gas chamber inflates to reach the desired pressure, the rate at which the controller controls the closing and opening of the valves, and the rate at which the T-Shirt bullet is loaded. The desired pressure of the chamber will determine the force of the shot, which can be controlled by adjusting the valve closing time, and the chamber will be equipped with a barometer to allow the operator to accurately control the force of the shot and make adjustments.

Smaller Size and Weight: Reducing size and weight was one of the main objectives of this MARK III design, and for this reason we abandoned the rotary round change design of the MARK II and adopted a loaded round change design to reduce redundant size. Secondly, the weight of the gas chamber will be reduced. Two large gas cylinders are used in the MARK II, and in fact, the small volume of a single cylinder provides gas that is perfectly adequate for firing at least 40 rounds of ammunition. Then there is the reduction of overall size and weight, which is achieved by simplifying the frame design of the transport vehicle, and the overall size of the launcher.

Safety: Since the launcher uses a pressure vessel, security considerations are very important to the system. The key parts of the launcher must have components to detect safety metrics, such as barometric values. In addition, for accidents that may occur during use, we should take into account and design safety mechanisms.


## Distribution of Work

Li Mingchen: Automation System

Zheng Jiakai: Launcher system

Wang Shenao: Targeting Gimbal System

Luo Xiao: Control System

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General Description

We will design a Master Bus Processor (MBP) for music production in home studios. The MBP will use a hybrid analog/digital approach to provide both the desirable non-linearities of analog processing and the flexibility of digital control. Our design will be less costly than other audio bus processors so that it is more accessible to our target market of home studio owners. The MBP will be unique in its low cost as well as in its incorporation of a digital hardware control system. This allows for more flexibility and more intuitive controls when compared to other products on the market.

Design Proposal

Our design would contain a core functionality with scalability in added functionality. It would be designed to fit in a 2U rack mount enclosure with distinct boards for digital and analog circuits to allow for easier unit testings and account for digital/analog interference.

The audio processing signal chain would be composed of analog processing 'blocks’--like steps in the signal chain.

The basic analog blocks we would integrate are:

Compressor/limiter modes

EQ with shelf/bell modes

Saturation with symmetrical/asymmetrical modes

Each block’s multiple modes would be controlled by a digital circuit to allow for intuitive mode selection.

The digital circuit will be responsible for:

Mode selection

Analog block sequence

DSP feedback and monitoring of each analog block (REACH GOAL)

The digital circuit will entail a series of buttons to allow the user to easily select which analog block to control and another button to allow the user to scroll between different modes and presets. Another button will allow the user to control sequence of the analog blocks. An LCD display will be used to give the user feedback of the current state of the system when scrolling and selecting particular modes.

Reach Goals

added DSP functionality such as monitoring of the analog functions

Replace Arduino boards for DSP with custom digital control boards using ATmega328 microcontrollers (same as arduino board)

Rack mounted enclosure/marketable design

System Verification

We will qualify the success of the project by how closely its processing performance matches the design intent. Since audio 'quality’ can be highly subjective, we will rely on objective metrics such as Gain Reduction (GR [dB]), Total Harmonic Distortion (THD [%]), and Noise [V] to qualify the analog processing blocks. The digital controls will be qualified by their ability to actuate the correct analog blocks consistently without causing disruptions to the signal chain or interference. Additionally, the hardware user interface will be qualified by ease of use and intuitiveness.