Date of Award

Spring 2021

Document Type

Thesis

Publisher

Santa Clara : Santa Clara University, 2021.

Department

Electrical and Computer Engineering

First Advisor

Andrew Wolfe

Abstract

When using a robotic arm, the path that the arm follows is typically unique to the task it completes, but not to the object upon which the task is performed. Additionally, when extruding materials, those materials are typically easy to work with (i.e. smooth and uniform). In this paper, we discuss our three-pronged approach, focusing on the imaging of the cupcake, the robotic arm’s movement about the cupcake, and the extrusion method, to achieve this goal of, simply-speaking, decorating a cupcake. While our results were not optimized or as broad as we’d initially hoped that they would be, we were able to decorate the cupcake in a reliable manner using all three components of the project. We ran into many issues along the way, but did find this to be a relatively successful project with many avenues for continuing research. Future research relating to this project should focus on three main avenues: an optimized image measurement system; increasing the vocabulary of designs for the robotic arm and optimizing them; and creating an automized system for the extruder with a frosting of a better consistency.

Download

Share

COinS