Mechanical Bootcamp - Archived S23

Introduction

WARG members often find that joining this team requires more knowledge and has a larger learning curve than other student teams. Once members have acquired this knowledge they gain a lot of confidence and are able to make large contributions to the team. Therefore, this Bootcamp is designed as a first task to be completed to both help you through the learning curve, while giving you a project that is fully your own. The hope is that once you complete this Bootcamp you will feel confident and hopefully have acquired enough skills such that you are ready to take on tasks with our aircraft!

Just a quick disclaimer, this Bootcamp will help accelerate and minimize the learning curve, but it will not give you all knowledge. The remaining knowledge will be acquired by completing other tasks with the team.

Bootcamp Objectives

• Make justified mechanical design decisions based on project constraints and criteria, gain exposure to the design process

• Learn CAD design in SolidWorks

• Learn how to make parts & assemblies in SolidWorks

• Start learning about aerial robotics!

• Participate in design discussion & review and have fun

Bootcamp Outline

This Bootcamp has two options, both of which require a Team Leads approval of completion in order to move onto working on other tasks. The estimated time of completion for this Bootcamp is 1 week.

Before starting your design, please review WARG’s CAD Guidelines and do your best to follow them while making your design. You can feel free to ignore the file naming convention and all drafting guidelines for now.

Action

1. Two-Axis Camera Gimbal:

Background

A camera gimbal is an electromechanical device used to stabilize and direct a camera in the desired direction. On our aircraft, the camera is a crucial component that provides us with the information allowing us to locate targets using our computer vision software. The camera gimbal houses the camera used to obtain these images. During flight, it is vital to keep the camera as still as possible while always pointing towards the ground no matter what orientation the aircraft is in.

Task

You are tasked with designing a two-axis gimbal to house a GoPro Hero 8 Black camera. The gimbal will be fastened to the bottom of a flat-framed drone and will be actuated using servos. This gimbal design needs to be lightweight and minimize drag. Additionally, the gimbal must have at least 120 degrees of motion in the yaw axis and 90 degrees in the pitch axis, which are shown in the figure below.

Open

The gimbal will be attached to the drone frame using four M3 bolts. You don’t need to include the frame, but be sure to have the proper holes for the bolts!

Your task is to:

• Design a case that securely holds the GoPro

  • Power button, record button, and USB C output must be easily accessible

• Design a 2-axis gimbal for the camera case that includes servos for the required rotation

• Include all motors in your design

• Make an assembly with proper mating to demonstrate the required range of motion and functionality of the gimbal and case.

• Use mm and g units

• Wiring the control of the motor is not required

The following models can be used in your design (if you find similar models you’d rather use, feel free to use those!):

SG90 Servo Motor | 3D CAD Model Library | GrabCAD

GoPro HERO8 bLACK | 3D CAD Model Library | GrabCAD

(Note: The Hero 8 model provided has some mounting holes available, please do not feel like you have to use these! If you think there is a better, more aerodynamic method of mounting the camera, use that instead.)

Submitting your Bootcamp

Congrats, you’ve done it! Use the SolidWorks' "Pack and Go" feature to create a zip file of your parts and assembly, please name it FIRSTNAME-LASTNAME-MechBootcamp. Then send this zip file to the appropriate team lead ( @Conall Kingshott [Discord Conallking#0325] or @Nathan Green [Discord Luigiman54#2439]) for approval. We’ll set up a call to have a quick chat about you and your design.

Using SolidWorks

Please use the most recent version of SolidWorks.

To get access:

• SW has a free 30 day trial which can be downloaded from their website.

• If you are an MME student you may already have a version downloaded from your ME/MTE 100 class.

• All the engineering computer labs have SW on the computers.

• The WARG Bay has a version of SW on our desktop computer.

One of these methods should be used to complete the Bootcamp. Please let a lead know if you need help accessing SolidWorks.

For absolute beginners, here is a great resource for starting out: My SolidWorks. Please ask questions if you get stuck!

2. Previous Work

If you feel that you have completed a project of similar (or higher) skill level and would like to be exempt from the Bootcamp, you can contact a Team Lead to explain and show the project you have done. It will be up to the Team Lead’s discretion whether you qualify to be exempt from the Bootcamp. If the Team Lead feels that you should still complete the Bootcamp, it is because they think you can learn and gain skills from the its completion. An example of a project that would be exempted: 3D modeling of our VTOL aircraft in SolidWorks.

Note that the Bootcamp can be a valuable and/or fun design & CAD exercise for students of all skill levels! It can make a great addition to a portfolio and can potentially be a project to speak about in future interviews. For these reasons, it is recommended that students complete the Bootcamp; however, if you still would like to be exempt, that’s ok too.

Completion of Bootcamp

Upon the approved completion of the Bootcamp by a Team Lead you are now eligible to work on other tasks with the team! If you have any feedback you would like to give to make this Bootcamp better please let a Team Lead know as we want this to be the best and most informative introduction to the team as possible.