Publication Date

Spring 2021

Document Type

Final Report

Embargo Date

5-4-2021

Problem Statement

The Lake Lab at Washington University in St. Louis faces challenges when setting up their camera systems for experiments. The Three Axis Camera system aims to optimize the experience by automating the movement and creating a user-friendly design. The current set-up requires the camera position to be adjusted manually and is “not liked” by most users. This wastes their time since the lab must set the location for the camera first and if the camera positioning is moved then the experiment will be ruined. Thus, the lab asked us specifically to help them automate these movements with our design and improve their experimental procedures and precision. To solve this problem the camera will be attached to a motor which translates its rotational movement into linear motion through a lead screw. The lead screw is accurate to about 0.01mm which will allow the Lake lab to get precise focus. Furthermore, the motor is calibrated so the lab can reproduce any camera height through a user interface we coded. For the other directions, the device moves along smoothly in the x and y with rulers for recording set locations. In general, our design streamlines the current process and will allow the Lake lab to do perform reproducible and accurate experiments.

Author's School

McKelvey School of Engineering

Author's Department

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Class Name

Mechanical Engineering Design Project (MEMS 411)

Download

Share

COinS