Reflections

     The overall theme of our project seemed to be "Measure twice, cut twice." No matter how careful we were or how many times we measured, it seemed like we had to do everything at least twice to get it the way we wanted it. Some of this was due to a lack of knowledge of how to properly machine and assemble the parts of our project, and some of it was due to a lack of knowledge of what was available to us.

     For example, before we were told that relays were the appropriate way to control the opening/closing of the valve and the running of the mixer, we tried to think of our own solution. To control the valve, we took the shaft out of a solenoid and replaced it with a reed switch that was connected to the valve. Then, when we powered the solenoid, the magnetic field caused the reed switch to close and complete a circuit, thus giving the valve enough voltage to open it. When we removed the voltage from the solenoid, the reed switch opened and broke the circuit, so the valve closed. Using a relay to do this is much simpler, but we did not originally know that they existed. Had we known this, we could have saved a lot of time and effort in experimenting with different ways to open the valve, and we could have done it once instead of twice.

     In other words, we learned a lot while doing this project, and we learned it in a very short period of time. If we had known all of this before, there are many changes and additions we could have made:
  • We could have altered the programming of the machine to halt the drink-making process if the door is opened. This would be especially helpful because the cup is opaque and takes a long time to fill; someone may think that the machine is done running when it is actually still filling the glass. If the valve automatically shut off when the door opened, all spills could be prevented.

  • The outermost structure for our machine is bigger than it needs to be. If we had known exactly how all of the components would work and how much space they would take up, we could have made the machine much smaller and more compact.

  • One simple addition that could greatly increase the utility of our project would be a heating device. If this were added, the machine could be used not only to make drinks, but also to make things such as instant soup, hot chocolate, and oatmeal. A switch could be added to the front panel that would determine whether or not the heater would run after the mixing stage.

  • We could have used the dial on the Handyboard to allow the user to input a mixing time, filling time, and the amount of powder desired. If this were implemented correctly, the user would only set these when he/she wanted to change the type of drink being made. They would not have to input the settings every time they wanted to make a drink.