
Ask HN: How can mechanical movements be designed systematically? - enthdegree
Is there any systematic method for designing&#x2F;&quot;programming&quot; passive mechanical movements where, given mechanical input behavior, an output behavior is produced by the design? 
If one can come up with a solution which produces the desired behavior, it can be modeled in a CAD tool. But how do you come up with what to model?<p>Here are several resources I am aware of but do not know how to piece together.<p>- <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;507movements.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;507movements.com&#x2F;</a><p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;user&#x2F;thang010146" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;user&#x2F;thang010146</a><p>- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;user&#x2F;YesYenGraphiTech" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;user&#x2F;YesYenGraphiTech</a><p>--<p>My specific input is a row of rods which over time independently actuate (go up) and return to their initial position (return back down). No more than, say, 6 rods are ever up at a given time.<p>The output is a separate register of rods (o_1,o_2,o_3,o_4,o_5,o_6) with the following behavior: At any time, say the input rods (b_1,...,b_k) are actuated, and became actuated in their labeled order. When some of them, say (b_i), i in S, de-actuate, then (o_i), i in S, should rapidly &quot;fire,&quot; i.e. actuate then de-actuate.<p>This process has to be able to repeat over and over, so after an output o_i fires the (o_{i+1},...,o_6) need to somehow get reset to anticipate future input rod actuations.<p>I know an easy answer is to just use a microcontroller but I am really only interested in a purely mechanical solution.
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dfornazari
Maybe Norton - Design of Machinery will help you? Also, the slides for a
lecture I had some years ago:
[https://edisciplinas.usp.br/pluginfile.php/3163786/mod_resou...](https://edisciplinas.usp.br/pluginfile.php/3163786/mod_resource/content/2/Aula%207%20SEM0104.pdf)

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enthdegree
Thanks. The key topic seems to be "Kinematic Synthesis" for which there
appears to be a developed theory.

[https://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs194-28/fa15/lectures/kinem...](https://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs194-28/fa15/lectures/kinematic-
synthesis-1.pdf)

