CSE 480 - Senior Design Project EE 491 - Senior Design SYS 491 - Senior Design ME 492 - Senior Mechanical Engineering Design Project Winter 2005

April 19, 2005

Competition Results

General comments on the rough drafts

Winter 2005 Design Project Description:

Design, build, test and compete with a device, controlled via a wireless interface, to project 1/2" diameter balls over a 1-m high barrier into target buckets located up to 10 m away from the device. No part of the device can be more than 0.5 m from the floor. The projectiles will be a random mix of various plastic and metal balls, materials to be selected from the list below:

1/2" Diameter Balls

Material	Specific Gravity	Weight (N)	Weight (lb)
Polypropylene*	0.91	0.070	0.016
Nylon	1.14	0.088	0.020
Acrylic	1.17	0.090	0.020
Delrin*	1.4	0.107	0.024
Teflon*	2.3	0.177	0.040
Aluminum	2.79	0.214	0.048
Chrome Steel*	7.75	0.595	0.134
Stainless Steel	7.83	0.601	0.135
Brass*	8.75	0.672	0.151
* most likely materials for competition Source: http://www.smallparts.com/components

Target: The target will be a standard 10-quart pail with dimensions: 9-1/2" (24 cm) tall, 10-1/2" (27 cm) OD with a 3/8" (1 cm) rim (9-3/4" (25 cm) ID), available at ACO Hardware (10 Quart CLEAR-VUE Ring Free Pail, UPC: 0 98262 20325, $4.49).

Sighting: Sighting the target will be via a web cam. The web cam, and its link, will be supplied to the teams. The device and target will each be located at least 1.5 meters from the barrier.

PowerPoint slides, including examples, for programming the Motorola MC9S12C family of microcontrollers

Transformation Mathematics. In order to help understand the geometry of sighting the target bucket with the web cam, Dr. Gu has prepared two short papers on Homogeneous Transformations and Image-Object Mapping and Part 2 - Approach to the Solution. To demonstrate that the mathematics are being handled properly, each group must prepare a detailed example where the elements of the transformation matrix, T, are computed in spherical coordinates, and describe how this example will be incorporated into their project.

• Live webcam link: http://www.cse.secs.oakland.edu/haskell/webcam480.htm
• For dimensioned photos, see below

Competition: On Thursday April 21, 2005 a competition will be held for all of the design groups, beginning at noon. Each team will shoot at one target bucket, the specific location of the target will be determined immediately before firing via the web cam. Competition standings will be the number of balls entering the bucket out of 10 shots, divided by the time to acquire the target and shoot all 10 balls, divided by the documented cost of a production model of the device. All 10 balls will be loaded into the device at once and in random order by an instructor. Each team may have up to 3 attempts for score. Each team may attempt up to 3 trials; the trial with the highest rating will be used to determine the competition standings.

Design Constraints:

• Lower costs will result in improved competition scores. All project costs will be borne by the students.
• The device must have a positive safety system that is wirelessly activated and prevents the device from firing. This safety device must be demonstrated to, and approved by, the instructors prior to the competition. Readiness to fire must be signaled by a blinking red light that is clearly visible all around the device.

Discussion for the final written reports:

For your final written reports, in addition to your technical discussions, you are to discuss applications of the technology that you are exploring and developing in this project. For your final report, discuss various applications of the technology, with specific emphasis on:

• Engineering Standards - describe the process in which you searched for applicable professional engineering standards and applied them in your design.
• Safety - what sort of constraints must be accounted for if such technology was used on a large scale?
• Economic factors - How much would it cost to implement such technology and what sort of jobs would it impact (consider improvements to safety as well as displacing jobs)? What sort of impact would this have on the acceptance of such technology?
• Reliability - if this technology was to be used in mass applications, what sort of reliability and failure rates would be acceptable?
• Aesthetics - what sort of additional devices or accessories could be used to make this technology as aesthetically attractive as possible while retaining its essential functionality?
• Potential customers - who would be the consumer for such technology? Consider the consumer of this technology; who would be the consumer? A government agency? Manufacturers? Insurance companies? The public at large?
• Societal impact - what would be the potential benefits to society for the applications that you discuss? What would be the potential drawbacks?

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

• Safety Warnings:
  Each launch of a ball must be preceeded by both an audible signal and a red blinking light capable of being seen everywhere in the vicinity of the device.
• Does it count if the ball bounces into the bucket?
  Yes, but be careful of relying on this behavior over the range of ball weights, the effects of the carpeting, etc.
• What are the dimensions of the competition area?
  The stage in 201 DHE is approximately 30 feet wide by 12 feet deep. Taking a third for the device side, the target can be placed within a 20-ft by 12-ft area. When you are directed to place your device, you will be allowed to measure its location before moving off stage.

Webcam archives:

	Camera height from floor: 6' 4" Distance from camera to edge of stage: 6' 0" Distance from camera to bucket: 12' 10" Distance from bucket to edge of stage: 5' 0" Distance from camera to table: 17' 10" Table height, width: 30", 60"
	Camera height from floor: 163 cm Distance from camera to edge of stage: 183 cm Distance from camera to bucket: 370 cm Distance from bucket to edge of stage: 228 cm Distance from camera to table: 686 cm Table height, width: 76 cm, 152 cm Stage: 364 cm wide. Black rectangle on floor: 83 cm x 99 cm (wide), 261 cm from left edge to edge of stage, 444 cm from edge to camera.
	Camera height from floor: 67 in Distance from camera to edge of stage: 72 in Distance from camera to bucket: 169 in Distance from bucket to edge of stage: 44 in Distance from camera to table: 227 in Table height, width: 30 in, 59.75 in; leg length: 27.5 in Black rectangle on floor: 32.5 in x 40 in (wide), 103 in from left edge to edge of stage, 154 in from edge to camera.
	Camera height from floor: 155 cm Distance from camera to edge of stage: 183 cm Distance from camera to bucket: 385 cm Distance from bucket to edge of stage: 207 cm Distance from camera to table (151 cm x 76 cm): 558 cm Distance from table to edge of stage: 109 cm
	Camera height from floor: 155 cm Distance from camera to barrier: 584 cm Distance from bucket to barrier: 226 cm Distance from bucket to right side of barrier: 59 cm Barrier: 100 cm high, 200 cm wide
	Camera height from floor: 67 in Distance from camera to barrier: 230 in Distance from bucket to barrier: 63 in Distance from bucket to right side of barrier: 57 in Barrier: 40 in high, 79 in wide
	Camera height from floor: 155 cm Distance from camera to barrier: 584 cm Distance from bucket to barrier: 315 cm Distance from bucket to right side of barrier: 104 cm Barrier: 100 cm high, 200 cm wide
	Camera height from floor: 67 in Distance from camera to barrier: 230 in Distance from bucket to barrier: 81 in Distance from bucket to right side of barrier: 74 in Barrier: 40 in high, 79 in wide

General comments on the rough drafts

• Remember: applications, economics, societal impacts must be complete
• For help thinking of applications, consider that you have designed and built a system that controls a precision mechanical device via a wireless connection to a standard PC.
• Double-space your report.
• Make sure that all graphics are clear and easy to read.
• All references to variables in equations and computer code must be italicized.
• To explain your software:
• Your goal is to have your audience understand what you did
• Describe each module separately, moving through the entire system in steps
• Describe what the module does, then present well-commented code
• Present the entire code listings in appendices
• You will need to talk about the results of the competition on 4/21
• Include things learned and what you would do differently if you had more time or the opportunity to do it all over.
• Table of Contents must be clear and concise and include page numbers, pages must be numbered sequentially throughout the report.
• You must include an abstract, 1 paragraph, briefly stating what you did and what the results were
• Consider leading off your report with a annotated photograph of your device, and refer to the photo often for clarity

Please email Dr. Haskell (haskell@oakland.edu) a copy of the final presentation as soon as possible.

Email Dr. Latcha (latcha@oakland.edu) a one-page detailed summary of the cost of your firing device by midnight Wednesday 4/20