The goal of this project was to create a simple, covered locking mechanism that would sense whether the door was closed or not (locked or not), and subsequently allow or disallow movement of the robot. The locks had to be placed in multiple locations all at different angles and directions so the mounting bracket had to be specialized for each location.

The system ultimately was designed to bolt directly into the 8020 brackets that made up the frame, and have a series of mounting locations that could be customized and tested with through the use of slotted sensor mounting. The mounting plate is bent steel, there is a piece of machined plastic between the sensor and the metal bracket to avoid interference, and the cover is 3D printed.

The cover would also ensure food grade safety as the top part of the lock would be inside the enclosure itself. Finally, the sensors worked based on RFID and the key-portion of the lock was attached to the door such that it can slot into the lock upon closing the door.