CSE 480 - Senior Design Project EE 491 - Senior Design SYS 491 - Senior Design ME 492 - Senior Mechanical Engineering Design Project Winter 2012

January 17, 2012

Winter 2012 Design Project Description:

Design, build, test and compete with a device controlled via a wireless interface to project tennis balls over a barrier at least 1 m high and 2 m wide into target buckets located up to 20 m away from the device. No part of the device can be more than 0.5 m from the floor. The device must be self-contained, that it, no external power supplies can be used during the competition.

Balls: Dunlop Sport Championship "Hard Court" balls - Extra duty felt for use on hard court surfaces. I bought mine at Dunham´s, they have packages of 3 for $2.49.

Target: The target will be the orange, 5-gallon "Homer" bucket, $2.60 at Home Depot, with dimensions: 14-1/2" (37 cm) tall, 11-1/4" (28.5 cm) ID opening.

Sighting: Sighting the target will be via a web cam. The web cam and its URL link will be supplied to the teams on the day of the competition. The device and target will each be located at least 1.5 meters from the barrier. For example images from past semesters, see below.

Scoring: The bucket will be mounted to a black, 24" diameter board. Hitting the board will score 3 points, hitting the outside of the bucket will score 5 points, balls that enter the bucket will score 10 points. Point values are cumulative, that is, balls that hit both the outside of the bucket (5 points) and the black board (3 points) score 8 points.

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.

Competition: On Wednesday April 18, 2012 a competition will be held for all of the design groups, beginning at 10 am. Each team will launch 3 balls at one target bucket, the specific location of the target will be determined via the webcam immediately before firing. Competition standings will be the number of balls entering the bucket, divided by the time to acquire the target and shoot all 3 balls, divided by the documented cost of a production model of the device. Each team may attempt up to 3 trials; the trial with the highest rating will be used to determine the competition standings. The competition will be held outdoors on campus, regardless of weather conditions, in a location to be determined.

Design Constraints:

• Lower costs will result in improved competition scores.
• 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?

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