Our task was routing wires. Our tool uses L-beams to make a triangular shape for the two wires to go in. Then these two shapes are attached to the motor, so when the touch sensor is pressed, the motor turns the wires through the hole and twists them. Our initial thought was to have a beam and then try and stick the two wires in two different holes of the beam, however, the holes in the beam are so small it would have taken a lot of time to try and fit the wires into the holes, and it was difficult to remove the wires from the tiny holes after being twisted. The threading wire is connected to our brick through a beam where we can hold the other end taut over the EV3. The beam is always at a lower position, so the threading wire does not interfere with the twisting motor.

One challenge that we faced was stabilizing the motor. After completing a twist, sometimes pulling the tool and the twisted pieces apart would result in the motor falling off the EV3. The motor needed a lot of stabilizing with additional beams and axils so that when the you pulled the tool off the twisted tires, it didn’t fall off.

We programmed on Lab View, so when the touch sensor is pressed the motor runs and twists the two wires together. It uses a simple while look so that the program runs continuously.