Design Process

The mechanical team worked on designing a CAD for a 3D gantry, then assembling it so that it could house the stepper motors and the limit switches. A cup tilt mechanism was also attached to the gantry. The gantry was meant to be around the size of the cup we were using to make lattes in. The mechanical side also ensured that the liquid loop was food safe.

The electrical team worked on connecting the stepper motors and stepper motor drivers to the Ramps 1.4 shield and the Arduino Mega. This involved researching different Arduino libraries and writing the firmware required to control the stepper motors. Additionally, the electrical side later integrated a solenoid valve, a new power supply, and an emergency stop button.

The software side also contributed to the firmware by creating our own GCode library that could control the stepper motors. After being able to control the stepper motors through the serial monitor and pySerial, we created a user interface in pygame that would execute a selected latte art based on user input.