These clips hold the door brush to the side of the PVC sheel around the auger.  The brush is critical because without the resistance of the bristles, the balls would just roll down the auger.  The clip on the left is different because it needs to clear the motors on the agitation assembly.

These two waterjet parts were, as usual, provided by the generous Richie P.  The one on the left is where the 30 tubes of balls will plug into the agitation/distribution assembly.  The circle on the right is made of steel instead of aluminum.  It acts like a ring gear, and with rubber triangles along the perimeter, is driven to disrupt any balls that might be jammed at the entrance to one of the 30 holes.

This video highlights the first time we turned on the auger after it was mounted in the main structure.  Besides showing the coolness of the auger, it also shows all the progress we made on the structure!

The sloped basin which funnels the balls into the auger:

Raised key units with some main structure:

One of the wings:

After a bit of confusion with OnlineMetals.com, I got all 94 feet of Aluminum 1”x1” in the mail.  I cut it up into the appropriate lengths using the cool new carbide-tipped miter saw in the robotics club.  In the end, there are 54 lengths of angle that all need holes drilled in specific places.  All these pictures are from my cell phone, so bear with me…

40 of the 54 lengths needed for the vibraphone:

Key Units Painted

The first attempt at painting the key units was a complete failure.  However, Megan Dority suggested that I used primer, and even picked some up for me.  It worked like a charm.  Also, Austin Buchan was able to get the group access to the Newel Simon paint booth, which was a huge help.

Key units drying in the paint booth:

Key units after drying:

Waterjet Parts Donated

RobOrchestra founder and alumnus Rich Pantaleo came through once again for the group.  He was able to obtain a large donated sheet of 6063 Aluminum in just a few days when we needed it most.  Also, he cut out all the parts we needed just a few days after getting the sheet!  I made a few mistakes on those parts, but nothing too critical.  I had to widen half of the slots in the giant half circles because I didn’t account for the thickness of the paint and the oversized hardboard.

Completely assembled and painted key unit:

All of the key units on their half circles:

Instead of relying on tension in cables or cloth to keep the wings in their proper place, kickstands were added to each wing to keep it in the right position.  The kickstands also serve as the mounts for the cables that will be keeping the cloth tensioned.

All surface that could potentially come into contact with the steel balls are covered in a 1/8” thick layer of neoprene foam.  The foam will be attached with an adhesive instead of using hardware.  The longest diagonal of the final outer area of the robot are just under 8 feet.  Despite a few minor edits in the basin, the addition of the kickstands, and some other tweaks, Vibratron is still able to fold up into a neat 1’x1’x4.5’ column for storage and transport (excluding the two separate racks of key units).

The entire structure is made out of 94 feet of aluminum 1”x1” angle, varying in thickness from 1/16” to 1/4”.  That aluminum has been ordered ($140.61) and fabrication of the main structure should be underway before mid-February.

With only $200 left in the $1,000 budget, the group still needs a 48’x36”x1/4” sheet of aluminum to waterjet into some very important pieces.  Using cheap 3003 H-14 aluminum sheet, it will cost $160 just for the raw materials for those pieces.  That leaves only $40 in the budget for fabric, foam, a power supply, steel cables, and other hardware.  Obviously the ends won’t be meeting, so we need to look for a donation of the aluminum plate.

Giant Circle Full of Key Units

The large waterjet circle that held up all of the key units was three feet in diameter.  Combined with the overhang of some of the key units, the diameter of the robot was at nearly five feet.  Separating the giant circle into two large semicircles fixes the problem pretty easily.  Hand grips were added so that the semicircles could be carried easily.  Even though they are 25 pounds each, the semicircles can be carried close to the body with arms locked, which is a requirement for simple transportation of the machine.

Fold Out Wings

Instead of the large fixed upside-down-umbrella style from the previous design, this design has four fold out “wings” that catch the balls and funnel them towards the center.  The overall diameter is six feet when open, but the wings can fold up completely vertically alongside the column.  Between each wing is a pie-wedge shaped piece of cloth or foam.  This has a duel purpose of funneling balls toward the center and regulating the deployment height of the wings.  When the wings are raised, the compliance of the cloth/foam will allow it to fold.

Deeper Square Basin

The previous basin was a thin circle, but our research with the prototype of the recirculation system has suggested that we will need many more balls in the system to reach steady state.  A wide square basin rigidly integrated with the vertical columns can hold the necessary volume of balls.  Four trapezoidal sheets of plastic also keep the balls rolling towards the center of the basin.

Design Changes

The biggest change between designs was the decision to not remove the material between key points, exchanging concave cutouts for straight lines.  Each new unit is made of five separate pieces of hardboard, connected by wood glue (instead of plastic welding).  Only two parts per unit are unique, instead of 3, which makes machining prep and assembly easier.

Circular Structure with New Key Units

The new key units attach to a horizontal 1/4” plate, just like the previous version.  The only difference is that instead of two clips and two colder pins, these units attach with just a colder pin.  Nothing else in the structure needed to be modified to accommodate the change.

Machining

All of the pieces for all 30 key units can fit on five sheets of 2’x4’ hardboard.  Hopefully these items will all be machined by the end of the winter break so focus can be shifted to the design and fabrication of the structure instead.  Below is an example of how the pieces fit on a sheet of hardboard.  The labels are engraved .02” into the board, and everything else is a profiling cut.

After bouncing off of the vibraphone keys, the ball bearings need a soft place to land and a central basin to roll into.  The basic idea behind the design was to make an upside-down umbrella, with the skeleton on the outside.  Stretching 1/4” foam between sections of aluminum angle is a cheap way to cover a lot of area.

Ball collector

Ball collector basin skeleton

Incorporation into Full Model

While previous renders imagined the 180 pieces of acrylic supporting the keys to be red, clear acrylic being about 35% cheaper prompted a slight design change.  We should save about $100 by changing to 1/8” clear acrylic.

The full vibraphone is now 4.5 feet in diameter, and should be about 3.5 feet tall.  The rim of the basin is just 2 feet off the ground, which is good because want people to be able to look into the vibraphone.

Full Vibraphone (without recirculation screw and ball distribution)

Detail view of key unit/basin interaction

Key Unit

Experimentation showed us that the ideal location of the ball dispenser is with the tube perfectly vertical, six inches above the center of a key tilted at 45 degrees.  A modular unit consisting of 4 pieces of lasercut plastic and a gate mechanism was designed to hold the keys and gates in their proper relative positions.

Key Unit Mounting

A large sheet of 1/4” thick aluminum will be waterjet into a shape that can hold 30 of these key units.  Each unit will be attached to the aluminum by two lasercut clips which are held down by cotter pins.

30 Key Units

With 30 key units on one large piece of aluminum, the weight of the entire assembly is already at 50 pounds with a diameter of over 3 feet.  In the future, the ball recirculation system (an Archimedes screw leading into a paintball hopper) will rise out from the middle of the aluminum circle, and the ball collection system (a foam floor to catch the balls) will stick out below and around the keys.

180 pieces of plastic, over 90 of them unique

There are 6 pieces of lasercut 1/8” red acrylic in each of the 30 key units.  3 of those 6 pieces are unique.  1 of the other 3 pieces has 6 different sizes, and the final 2 are each repeated in all 30 assemblies.

Obviously I did not want to model 98 different pieces of plastic and insert them individually into models.  Fortunately, design tables in SolidWorks are very powerful.  In the end, I only needed to make 5 plastic parts and 5 obnoxious Excel spreadsheets to get an assembly (“Key Unit”) with 30 unique configurations.  Some of the plastic parts even have their note engraved into the side!

During the presentation, some other interesting means of funding were mentioned.  It was recommended that I speak to Clippard directly to try and obtain my 12 solenoid valves for free or at a reduced price.  Also, an engineering professor at CMU who is very involved with harmonicas might be interested in doing something with this project.

Plug

In the hour before the funding presentation, I modeled and rendered a crude first iteration of the plug.  This version routes a 1×10 array of square holes on the harmonica to a 2×5 array of 1/8” NPT fittings on the back.  The harmonica sticks inside a bit, where two pieces of foam or rubber apply pressure to keep the harmonica up against the plug.

The next image is a cross-section of the plug.  The curved parts of the channel may seem to end before reaching the harmonica on the left, but they don’t.  Instead, one of them crosses out of plane towards you, and the other crosses out of plane into the screen.  This complex geometry is why the part needs to be 3D-printed or cast.

I have wanted to add a diatonic harmonica to the RobOrchestra since I joined the group in my freshmen year.  The Carnegie Mellon Robotics Club recently acquired a MakerBot 3D printer, so my dream has become a lot more feasible than before.

Harmonica Interface and Control

The concept for the robot is simple: A 3D printed plug (with complex inner geometry) routes the 10 square holes of a diatonic harmonica to 10 NPT fittings.  The NPT fittings connect to 10 different solenoid valves, each corresponding to one hole on the harmonica.  This allows for individual control of the air going through each hole.

Achieving both “Blow” and “Draw” Notes

The solenoid valves all connect to a single manifold, which is connected to two other solenoid valves.  One of the two valves is connected to positive pressure, and the other is connected to negative pressure (vacuum).  Activating one of the two solenoid valves at a time can simulate a blowing or drawing, while the other 10 valves select any number of holes on the harmonica to play.  Unfortunately, like humans, this robot will not be able to blow in some holes while drawing from others.

Harmonicas of Different Keys

The best part about having one generic plug to route the 10 holes to 10 NPT fittings is the modularity it provides.  Diatonic harmonicas come in all sorts of keys, but they all have the same shape.  Because of this property, harmonicas of different keys can be easily switched in and out of the mechanism.

Funding

The estimated cost of this robot is at $500.  This project is applying for RoboClub project funding, but will not be applying for a SURG.  The largest cost is the 12 solenoid valves at $20 each.  More updates and design will follow if the project gets funding from somewhere.