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CJ’s Status Report for 02/11/2023

This week was a week of rebuilding. I spent the first part of our week considering how we could pivot our idea after receiving feedback about our proposal. My main concern was that the LiDAR sensor would not be sensitive enough to detect a golf ball in the manner that we would like.

After spending a day researching the Slamtec RPLIDAR A1M8 sensor that is in ECE inventory, I was able to come to the conclusion that this should work for our implementation. The spec provides information about the accuracy, specifically that it’s accuracy is within 1% ≤ 3m, 2% 3m-5m, and 2.5% 5m-25m. Since our distance requirement is putts from 0m-10m, this means that at most the error we could see would be 2.5% of 10m is 25cm. Modifying our use case requirement for accuracy to be 3% within range seems logical and can work with this sensor.

My only current concern is the angular resolution as that will ultimately be telling us where the ball is. The spec had this listed at ≤1%. At a distance of 10m, that could be up to 10cm. With a golf ball being 4.2cm in diameter this would mean that either our max distance to reliably track the ball is 4.2m or we would need to consider using a larger ball. Because the spec is unclear about this, our team has placed an order form for this part and hope to start verifying the spec accuracy this upcoming week.

Spec Document

Otherwise, I worked with my team to revise our implementation plan and use case requirements based on the feedback from our proposal. Given the circumstances with both of them being involved in swim meets throughout the week and having limited time to meet, we were very productive and should be on track after a strong week next week.

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Team Status Report for 02/11/2023

Team Status Report

This week was spent mostly revising our use case requirements and plans for our project after receiving feedback on our proposal presentation. We have settled on an implementation that includes one mini golf hole that a golfer can practice putting on. We plan to use a LiDAR based implementation to measure the distance from the hole to the golf ball. We also plan to use an IMU and pressure sensors to provide the golfer with information about their putting speed, spin rate, and accuracy from various ranges.

Our biggest risk is the granularity and accuracy of the LiDAR sensors. We are uncertain if the LiDAR sensor will be able to accurately recognize the ball. To mitigate this risk we have put in an order form for the LiDAR sensor from ECE inventory and hope to begin testing Monday. In case of failure to recognize a golf ball, we plan to use a slightly larger ball in order to accommodate for the accuracy of the LiDAR and help fit an IMU sensor and Bluetooth transmitter inside.

Our project’s main changes involve the size and shape of the green as well as the sensors we are using to measure distance. Our original idea was to have a more circular green, however, this would involve a series of concentric RFID sensors as “starting positions” for the putter. This then relied heavily on an IMU to measure the distance from the hole to the golf ball. We realized that this may not be the most practical as IMU’s that would meet our price range and size requirements would not be accurate enough. Pivoting from this idea, we have decided to do a more traditional mini golf hole that is more one directional. This will allow us to us a more accurate LiDAR sensor placed behind the hole to estimate the distance from the ball to the golf hole.

Our project includes considerations for public health and the environment. Our project’s electrical components will be either used in a lower power mode, or will be drawing very little power in general to help reduce electricity usage and help the environment. Our project will also rely parts that give off no emissions, which will further prevent any harm to the environment and the user of our project.

Overall we are still on track for our project despite having to revise our plans this week.