Today at Intuitive we looked at a real project mirroring the day-to-day work of engineers: measuring! Although engineering is often made out to be largely about design, it’s equally about ensuring that components and assemblies are built up to spec and continue functioning at capacity even under load.
The part we took a look at today was a linear actuator, a device that extends and retracts even when fighting significant force. We measured it loaded with weights and without, and plotted the voltage, current, and temperature over numerous trials.
Below: Overlaid voltage/time graphs for 216 trials.