STUDENTS MAJORING IN MECHATRONICS AND ROBOTICS ASSEMBLED A DEVICE FOR AUTOMATIC PRODUCTION OF PANCAKES
In the academic year 2018-2019 students of the Faculty of Engineering and Economics majoring in Mechatronics and Robotics together with the staff of the Department of Machine Building Technology assembled a device for automatic production of pancakes – a pancake robot.
During Maslenitsa, also known as the Pancake Week, students and teachers of the university enjoyed the pancakes made by the pancake robot.
To implement this project, a real industrial robot was used. A frying pan was attached to the robot by means of a 3D printed fixture element. It took quite a lot of time to program the robot. It was necessary to correctly determine and specify the geometry of the movement of the frying pan used as an operating tool. The composition of the mixture for pancakes was determined experimentally, and it took a lot of effort as well. The peculiar thing about the robot was that a pancake had to release itself from the frying pan due to gravity and fall into the container. The operation cycle was programmed to be approximately the same as during traditional pancake-making. The operation speed of the pancake robot is one pancake every minute and a half. The pancake robot was presented at the 5th Mogilev Science Festival, which was held on February 20-22. A lot of spectators gathered to watch the automatic pancake-making process and enjoy the pancakes. During the event, curious visitors ate about 150 pancakes.
The RUE Mogilev Radio and TV Company took a keen interest in the pancake robot. The company’s reporters visited the university during the Pancake Week and shot a video about the wonder-machine and the field of study Mechatronics and Robotics chosen by the students who had assembled the robot.
