Students: Alexander Lam; Hang Chen; Sherla Chen; Sua Lee (Fall 2025)
SafeOven is an assistive oven tray handling system developed to improve kitchen safety and accessibility through controlled automated motion. The project combines mechanical linkages, motorized linear translation, and closed-loop control systems to reduce direct interaction with hot oven interiors while maintaining repeatable and stable tray handling.
Conventional household ovens require users to bend and reach into high-temperature cavities to insert and remove trays. This increases the risk of burns and strain, particularly for users with limited mobility, strength, or dexterity.
The final prototype was designed with these goals in mind:
Horizontal translation is achieved through a lead screw-driven drawer slide assembly powered by a stepper motor. Rotational lifting motion is generated using a DC gearmotor connected to the linkage system.
The linkage geometry was iteratively refined to:
The final prototype integrates drawer slides, custom linkage bars, tray grabber rods, and a custom tray interface into a unified assistive system.
The electrical architecture utilizes an Arduino-based control system integrating:
Encoder feedback and homing routines provide repeatable positional reference points and improve system accuracy during operation.
Dual-actuation control enables coordinated linear and rotational motion throughout tray handling sequences.
Custom Arduino control logic was developed using a non-blocking control architecture to coordinate simultaneous motor operations.
The control system:
Control tuning focused on improving positional stability, repeatability, and smooth system motion under load.
Experimental testing evaluated positional repeatability, torque response, tray stability, and motion consistency under loading conditions.
Torque-current testing demonstrated a strong linear relationship between motor current and output torque, validating the system’s control behavior and motor response characteristics.
System testing further demonstrated:
SafeOven capstone project poster showcasing the final prototype, system architecture, engineering objectives, electrical and control systems, testing
The final SafeOven prototype integrates mechanical linkages, motorized actuation systems, encoder feedback, and closed-loop control architecture into a unified assistive mechanism for oven tray handling.
The completed system is capable of:
The prototype combines a stepper motor-driven linear translation system with a DC gearmotor-actuated four-bar linkage mechanism to achieve coordinated tray handling motion while maintaining tray orientation throughout operation.
SafeOven demonstrates the feasibility of a compact assistive mechanism for automated oven tray handling through the integration of mechanical linkages, motorized actuation, encoder feedback, and closed-loop control systems. Iterative prototyping and testing resulted in repeatable tray motion, stable positioning under load, and coordinated dual-actuation control capable of controlled tray insertion and extraction.
The project highlights the potential for retrofit accessibility systems that improve kitchen safety while reducing direct interaction with high-temperature oven environments.
Future development will focus on improving overall system compactness, refining control tuning for smoother motion, integrating higher-resolution encoder systems, reducing manufacturing cost, and incorporating additional safety and user interface features to improve long-term usability and reliability.