And so as usual being overly paranoid at times, the design and mechanics of the hinge joint was something that bothered me a whole lot, and I just had to do something about it. Although my group mates were alright with it, I was really persistent in changing it and went ahead on my own.
Not to mention, there is a major design flaw in this..and yes! I presume you could already foresee it. Intersection of polygons! Gahh it never ends!
As predicted, this was how it looked like when the elbow was bend. The intersection was pretty bad that even at 90 degrees you could already spot the obvious. Moreover, I was very bothered by the fact that the hinge joint looked a tad too simple and predictable! So without hesitation I went straight into looking for references!
Also known as the EB208, these two robots were modeled and design from this artist called Fausto De Martini, which also had design the robot for the latest film Robocop.
So after looking at these references, I was particularly inspired by the mechanics of the double hinge joint at the elbow. Also, the mechanics on the shoulder caught my attention as well. It functions the same way as the Elysium robot the lecturer had showed me the other day and what's surprising is that the mechanics are exactly the same.
Anyway back to the point, the double hinge joint looks rigid and sturdy and something out of the norm. So I decided to develop my ideas from there.
I started out with a single hinge to see how it would work out, however I realised maybe i should add a piston or two to make the mechanics look more complex. As I work my way, it came to my attention that there were insufficient space for two pistons to be in front or next to each other. After much consideration, I decided to place one piston in front and the other behind. This decision was simply made because the hinge is at the center of the upper and lower arm, so I presume placing one in front and behind would balance the silhouette.
....and i was wrong. Doing this would bring up more problems. Since it is a single hinge joint, placing a piston behind would intersect when the elbow is bend. As a result, I had to scrap this concept completely and work from scratch.
After much thought in the shortest time, I came up this concept of a double hinge joint. In addition, I modified the upper arm to give ample space for the lower arm when it bends. Also, doing this helps to reveal the mechanics that best represents the robot. Still in WIP as I go along to explore more possibilities.
With much patience and time, the hinge is finally done! However, I did still ran into complications and made a little modifications here and there. But this image here you are looking at the mechanics is workable with no intersections. I had to deal with small problems like the back piston was intersecting with the 'L' hinge when bent to a certain degree. Hence, I had to arc the piston in a way that avoids touching the 'L' hinge. Moreover, I added a some pipes and springs to give a well rounded finish. However,there was one thing that still bothered me aesthetically and it was the two plates behind the elbow hinge. It needed to be connected to something.
So I modified the shape and gave it a bolt to connect the hinge. Originally, I wanted to give 3 to 4 plates so that when the elbow bends, the plates slide above one another giving it a cool looking shape that covers the elbow. However, after much discussions with our leader Kevin we decided to leave the idea as it is. Reasons was because he didn't want it to catch too much attention on a particular part....and with all discussions close this became our final model for the elbow and hinge joint.
As a whole, doing this was to an extent challenging for me as there were no drawings or whatsoever to follow. I had to popped up the idea in my head which took quite some time and had discussions and feedback with the lecturer. The most challenging part was that I couldn't change the geometry of the lower arm and more so retain its exact shape. In other words, the only components I could modify was the hinge and upper arm. Now that it's done, I am glad that it turned out pretty well and I don't have to think about it anymore!
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