Slinky

Hi Zach or whichever TA is grading this! This is my IDC1 progress report for my independent study project slinky, also known as the robotic tentacle. As you can see: Above is the main video, however if you dislike the added images (I asked zach after class on thursday and he said it was ok but I understand if its not) the video straight from my phone is at the bottom of the page; Below you will see the two documentation photos (slinky unspooled and then spooled); A couple of sentences about my process and how everything works; And scanned versions of my handwritten documentation from my journal. Enjoy!

Slinky is a robotic tentacle with inspiration taken from: This article. The main idea was the create a tentacle that could do a logrithmic spiral which can also grab different items and possibly even catch a ball when it's thrown to it. Currently it uses Greartisan DC 12V 50RPM motors with TB6612FNG drivers, along with some current sensors, all controlled by a Raspberry Pi 5, and powered by USB-C with some adapters.

Initially I was using N20 30RPM 6V DC motors, however the torque was not nearly enough and the speed wasn't anything close to what I wanted either. So I then looked for upgrades, and found the current motors. In the process I also had to upgrade from the previous h-bridge modules (DRV8833). The original goal for this first checkpoint was to have slinky be able to hold a tennis ball or bag of chips. As the video shows, it can definietly do so, however the speed leaves a lot to be desired. For the final version of the project I will makde a dedicated enclosure to hide the current rats nest of wires, and also try to manufacture a PCB to remove a lot of said wires. If I have enough money and amps I will also try to increase the motors speed as well.

Heads up, the following images are all the physical documentation I was doing. It is all in the video as requested, but it is also here if you wanted to get a better look at it.

Below is the video with no added images to prove there weren't any hidden edits.