Project Narrative

Figure 1: Exploited Drawing of Final Product

Figure 1.1: CAD Model of Final Solution

Figure 1.2: Final Solution

Project Overview

💡 Our team was assigned to develop and design an advanced airport baggage handling system. The project aimed at minimizing errors, reducing transfer times, and assuring that the processes of luggage transfer are cost-effective in high-traffic airport environments with the best efficiency, reliability, and automation.

⚙️ My team and I worked together to design a smooth mechanism for transferring luggage. In this project, I implemented strong automation and ensured the system met all industrial standards and optimized performance given space and time constraints.

🏗 The design contains of a conveyor belt, along with automation in sorting. Speaking to software integration, my contributions are the oversold() function in this system that maintains the overflow of this system and has smooth operation without any congestion on high loading conditions.

🕒 This project was completed through October 6th to December 4th.

Skills Applied

Technical Skills

• Autodesk Inventor
  • Modelled conveyor belt and other essential items needed for our mechanism
• Hardware and Software Integration
  • Programmed linear and rotary actuators to assist in transferring luggage mechanism
  • Programmed Q-Arm to sort luggage to its designated end point

Soft Skills

• Communication
  • A Microsoft Team was made to facilitate meetings and a way to share our work to each other
• Collaboration
  • Valued the input of each team member in arriving at decisions, thus informed and inclusive decisions
• Leadership
  • As the administrator of the team, I led the team in terms of getting together and putting together every individuals work and submitting a final version.

Team’s Work and Personal Contributions

Team Contributions

We have worked as a team in designing and implementing an innovative airport baggage handling system. Jointly, we addressed the following issues:

• Researching existing systems to point out areas for improvement.
• Defining the problem statement, objectives, constraints, and key functions.
• Dividing work into sub-tasks, including mechanical design, system programming, and testing.
• Having regular team meetings to integrate individual work into the final system.

Personal Contributions

My primary responsibilities and contributions included:

• Development of the oversold() Function:
  • Designed and implemented the oversold() function to handle scenarios where luggage exceeded system capacity.
  • Debugged and optimized the logic to maintain overall system reliability under high-load conditions.
• Design and Analysis:
  • Conducted structural calculations for the conveyor system to ensure the given luggage would be carried on the mechanism.
• Automation and Integration:
  • Programmed key control systems, including automation logic for luggage flow.
  • Collaborated with team members to integrate mechanical and computational components.
• Testing and Troubleshooting:
  • Played a critical role in testing the prototype, identifying inefficiencies, and cleaning up the processes.

Figure 2: Conveyor Belt Troubleshooting, Constructing Mechanism

Figure 3: Team

Reflection

This project was a good learning experience; it was challenging on both technical and collaborative levels. Developing the oversold() function taught me the importance of designing systems to be adaptable and further honed my programming skills. I learned the importance of iterative testing and effective communication during the troubleshooting process, which significantly improved our design.

Looking back, I think that I could have managed my time better and been more proactive in the discussions of the team. Many times, I found myself becoming too engrossed in the detailed aspects of the tasks with which I had been charged and thus not interacting as much with the broader project. In future projects, I'll try to ask more questions up front and contribute more to overall planning to avoid these issues.

This experience highlighted the importance of balancing technical skills with teamwork, adaptability, and critical thinking—lessons I’ll carry into future endeavors.