1. Our design was very simplistic and worked efficiently. We used 3 pieces of balsa wood, 1 syringe, 1 tube, and masking tape. A paperclip kept the wood in place, so the third piece of wood could bend at the elbow. The top and bottom of the syringe were both taped separately to the side of the woods. Our bionic arm used hydralics to move the arm back and forth a total of 80 degrees. We used a hydrualic system because the motion is transferred more quickly since the water is nearly incompressible. When you pushed down on the syringe, the water rushed through the tube and caused the arm to bend. When you pull back on the syringe, it sucks the water back, bending the arm back to its original state.
2. Our group first decided to use a hydrolic sysytem, rather than a pneumatic system. It seemed to work better and to have more force. Then we tried one syring at an angle. It worked well, but we wanted to find out if there was a better design. We tried putting the syring flat against the balsa wood, but we found that the arm would not come back. So we attempted to fix this problem by adding another syring to the base of the arm. It didn't work as well. In the end, we decided to go with our original design.
2. Our group first decided to use a hydrolic sysytem, rather than a pneumatic system. It seemed to work better and to have more force. Then we tried one syring at an angle. It worked well, but we wanted to find out if there was a better design. We tried putting the syring flat against the balsa wood, but we found that the arm would not come back. So we attempted to fix this problem by adding another syring to the base of the arm. It didn't work as well. In the end, we decided to go with our original design.