Development of Automatic Object Lifter

Rogelio A. Lasaga Jr., Mark Cleo B. Suansing, Peter G. Talucod, Richard T. Regidor*

College of Engineering Education, Electrical Engineering Department, University of Mindanao, Davao City, Philippines

Abstract

Food service is the most significant part of running a successful restaurant. Precise and consistent food order distribution must be synchronized to achieve a remarkable operation. As the food business industry develops, the quality of the technology goes down. It now becomes the burden of the owners, especially on the workers. Developing an automated dumbwaiter with High Torque DC Motor and 1-kg load cell w/ HX711 Amplifier was conceptualized to solve this problem. The study aims to design, fabricate, and test the functionality of an Arduino-based automatic object lifter that will convey the corresponding meal to the following floor. The circuitry comprises an Arduino Uno, 1-kg Load Cell, HX711 Load Cell Amplifier, LCD Display 20x4 HD44780 Controller, Rotary Switch, Limit Switch, L298N Motor Driver, and a High Torque DC Motor. The system begins to operate after the load cell is calibrated. After this, the food was placed on a tray over the top of the dumbwaiter with a 1-kg load cell underneath. The meal weights will be set accordingly and saved as data when the microcontroller analyses the values given by the load cell and HX711 module. The dumbwaiter has only three meals available. Every meal comprises three different combinations of food items per tray, for a maximum of 1 kg. For the first meal: 1-pc Chicken w/ Rice & Drinks, second meal: Spaghetti w/ Fries & Drinks, and the third meal: Burger w/ Fries & Drinks. Whenever there are discrepancies in the weights of the food items, it prevents the system's operation. The dumbwaiter carries the meals up to the next floor. As the dumbwaiter hits the plunger of the limit switch, it instantly stops. Generally, the prototype was functional, with an average transport time of 13.584 seconds and a limit switch-breaking system of 0.5 milliseconds.

Keywords

Food Service, Arduino Uno, DC Motor, Load Cell, Dumbwaiter.

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