Grace, Pete, and Ben have been trying to debug the output speed issues with the current Arduino motor configuration. This project utilizes Arduino Uno with a motor shield as well two 512 step bipolar motors (5V and 12V) as well as a 200 step (12V) and an external power source. The 200 step motor is slightly larger than the other two and has higher torque. This motor was purchased after the fact as the group wasn’t sure if the former motors would have enough power to correctly move the mechanism.

Issues came about because the motor would output weak force that could be manually stopped fairly easily. Also it took around 3.5 seconds to perform one full rotation. The motors also only rotated in one direction when we expected them to be able turn back and forth.

Through some debugging, the group realized that there was a wiring issue which resolved the rotation issues as well increased the power output. Professor Costa also indicated that a stronger external power source (which the group purchased) would increase the output.

Mitchell, Kevin, and Pete calculated the exact angles the motor has to turn to (45 degrees). Accordingly, the motor will turn 64 steps (512 step motor) in each direction to achieve this.

As of now, the program is complete and will perform said actions upon a user initiated keystroke.