ECE 4760 - Automated Grapefruit Cutter

The full report is here: http://goo.gl/DbXkR

This is a demo of the final project of Kevin Martin (me, ksm76@cornell.edu) and Hyundo Reiner (hpr6@cornell.edu) for the [in]famous Cornell class ECE 4760: Design with Microcontrollers. Here we're setting up the system and explaining a bit about it until 1:50, when we start it up.

This apparatus detects edges between pulp segments in a grapefruit, then cuts around them so you get can get to eating faster and easier. Unsurprisingly, with the limited budget the actual contraption is rather clunky, but it does work! You just wouldn't actually use it on a day to day basis as we had initially hoped.

The core electrical components are an ATMega644 MCU running on a custom PCB host board for power, USB UART, and peripheral port pin outs. We drive a stepper motor and a DC motor (via an H bridge IC), and process input from a piezo flex sensor to estimate where to cut. There are electrical safety interlocks to protect the user from getting near the knives when they're moving, as well as a two button, 4-LED interface stolen from a Nintendo Entertainment System. Most of the work when into the complicated physical construction and two relatively simple functions in software.

There are also knives that rotate down between the pulp and rind, partially scooping out the segment. Sadly it's not shown in either video; there are pics in the report linked above that show how they're attached and how they actuate. It was a huge pain to work out, but with the limited power driving the CD tray, they don't quite cut deep enough.

Check out other projects our classmates present and past put together: http://people.ece.cornell.edu/land/courses/ece4760/FinalProjects/

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• ece 4760
• grapefruit
• piezo sensor
• edge detection
• electronics
• microcontroller
• atmega644
• atmel
• ece
• ee
• 476