Mark McKinzie – Team C8
This week I researched which parts we would need for the chip value detection system. This included choosing resistor values corresponding to the chip values which were chosen as follows $50 = 2kOhms $10 = 10kOhms $5 = 20kOhms These high resistance values were chosen in order to reduce the error in calculated chip value. The most necessary part to order was the poker chips themselves, I chose a basic plastic chip, but if necessary we could potentially 3D print custom chips based on the CAD model I created. Though even if we use the premade chips, our resistor embedding will look like the CAD model anyway. In addition we purchased some current sensors which will make chip value reading much easier, with the raspberry pi zeros, only needing to use the voltage into the chips and out of the chips and the current value measured by the sensor to know the total resistance and thus the total chip value.
For the play area we looked into purchasing a mat, but decided not to do that yet, before having all the components which need to be inserted into said play area.
For the shuffler and dealer I looked into examples of automated shufflers and dealers to see which gears and motors would be needed. Since we will probably 3D print or assemble our module out of acrylic, I did not research form factors yet, as that will depend on how the motors, gears, and wiring all fit together. Small high speed motors will initially push the cards together to shuffle them as well as eject cards from the dealing part of the module, whereas a higher torque servo motor will handle the rotation of the module to allow dealing to certain areas. Since only the servo motor requires PWM and the high speed motors are simply run by DC it will run easily from the Raspberry pi. I researched gears for the automated shuffler but could not get any definitive measurements, so this coming week I will order a gear set with many different sizes so I can experiment which of them work best for optimal performance while still keeping the model as small as possible, however I feel I am in a good place knowing what will be driving the module.
I am on progress as I have created a model for the chip and chosen resistance values, so the next step is prototyping, which is what I intend to complete next week. For the play area we are a little behind not having chosen a form factor, but I am confident I can decide that as well as making the CAD model next week. For the shuffler and dealer next week I want to order the gears and motors so the following week Chris and I can begin prototyping.
