ARDUINO PROJECT
This project was the result of a few weeks of tinkering with my Arduino kit during my daily 1-hour lunch break at work.
Fully acknowledged; this project isn't very flashy. This project is the automation of a mundane task. It served more as a self-assignment - taking what I was learning in my free time and applying that knowledge to a tool that I could integrate into my work life. Working as a drafter I often keep sheets of paper to reference and glance at while drawing. I thought that it'd be fun to automate this.
The Automatic Paper Holder:
I went through several designs, testing and scrapping many ideas. I had a pulley system and sheet metal frame at one point in this project, but I decided against that since the entire assembly took up too much space. I wanted the entire thing to be fairly compact.
Also shown below is a test of the kit's accelerometer. This was used to test how to map input to a servo's output. I later applied this mapping to the values from a photoresistor.
I settled on a pseudo-motion detector to control the actuation of the servo. By placing a hand over the enclosure, a hole containing a photoresistor would be obscured. This triggered the release of paper. If paper was placed against the enclosure, the paper would similarly obscure another hole which would cause the servo to clamp down. The case was made of wood - I had recently bought a Dremel so this project defaulted as the playground for my new tool.
Paper Holder Prototype!
