Month: February 2026

This week, Bing crushed our Design Review presentation. After class, Hyong, our advisor, pointed out a critical component to our game, one which we identified ourself to be make or beak: the batting experience.

We aren’t trying to make this a baseball simulator, but we still feel we can achieve an intuitive, skill-based batting experience, similar to how other arcade baseball games do. Pitch delivery will be predictable, with just enough variability in speed and movement to make it difficult. Bat swing to flapper actuation will be accurate and low latency. Scoring outcomes will depend on how well-timed swings are.

A few risks that we discussed this week were:

1. Pitch speed: Our current pitch system will be powered by belt-driven linear actuators that are powered by NEMA17 motors. By increasing our motor driver strength and operating at the upper end of current ratings, we believe we will get RPM from the motors and thus sufficient pitch speed. If not, we have discussed a machine similar to the “JUGGS machine” that is used to sling American footballs, using 2 DC motors and wheels. Another alternative would be to rely purely on gravity for the ball to fall fast, and increase the game board slope.
2. Ball return: After a ball falls into a scoring pocket, it needs to be routed back to the “Pitcher’s Mound”. This is a challenge, since we want the ball to fall through the playing surface so that it can be detected by break-beam sensors, so it will need to climb back to the surface plane while avoiding under table obstructions like the Gantry. We discussed a few different methods to resolve this, including chute like paths for the ball to fall through the surface, then come back out down below, relying on the fact that the game board will be angled towards the batter. Once the ball pops back on to the surface below, the gantry can drag the ball back to the mound. An alternative would be to have shallowed grooves rather than fall-through pockets, again taking advantage of gravity and geometry to make a convenient pickup spot for the ball. If all fails, we can have a Air Hockey style puck drop-in and return, where the pitched needs to place the ball on the mound after it is returned to them below in a slot.

Little has changed with our design, as we are still waiting to receive our first round of components. Our schedule has changed slightly, as the gantry equipment won’t come in until after Spring Break. Thus, Aiden will shift his focus to the Coupling Mechanism and Game Board for now. The schedule here reflects that: gantt_chart_2_21

We look forward to beginning the development of some of our subsystems and finalizing the designs for others.

This week, we spent most of our time together finalizing the designs of our individual subsystems, and updated our project planning into a more detailed day-to-day Gantt Chart (linked here). We also submitted our initial orders for the components that we will be using for the project.

During our meeting with our capstone advisor, we received some follow-up feedback regarding the design of our project, and we feel confident in continuing with our current plans, while of course being cautiously flexible about any potential changes that may arise in later weeks. For now, we will keep working to deliver the product that we have promised: a fun, engaging, and immersive baseball arcade game.

As to how we are keeping in considerations of public health, safety, and welfare, social factors, and economic factors:

Our product is designed to provide a fun, physically engaging game that revives the spirit of retro arcades while combining it with exciting technology. From a safety standpoint, we mitigate hazards associated with a moving ball, moving mechanisms, and electrical power by implementing physical barriers and clear zones around any electrical components. The play area will include a defined batting box to prevent injuries in the swinging area and software safety implementations that prevent motion when the game is paused, reset, or when a fault is detected. We also plan to include an easily accessible emergency stop and a conservative safe state. Electrical safety is addressed with proper insulation and connections, keeping accessible surfaces at safe voltages.

From a public health /well-being perspective, the game encourages social play and stress relief through an interactive two-player experience. We also consider accessibility and user welfare by designing the interface to be simple and inclusive with clear visual cues and game states. The play experience doesn’t require advanced athletic skill and is easily enjoyed by all. —Vivian

In terms of social factors, the baseball theme of the game lends itself to a more North and Central American-centric audience. Given our mission to create a fun experience for all, we are designing the game with intent to appeal to a universal audience—with snappy mechanics and relatively simple rules—so that it could be enjoyed by all groups of people regardless of their experience or knowledge in baseball. In addition, we are also aware that the physical nature of the game can pose a physical barrier for people with certain disabilities. Although the physical hitting aspect of gameplay is something we do not want to compromise, we will make the bat as lightweight as we can in order to allow as many people as we can to engage with our game. —Bing

For economic factors, our system has been designed to fit with room to spare under our $500 budget, making it far more accessible than other arcade machines which typically cost thousands. Similarly, our components have been selected with easy of access in mind, as many of them are commonly used for hobby projects. These components have a lot of free and open-sourced peripherals that go with them, such as Bluetooth packages for our MCUs and build instructions for the aluminum extrusion hardware for our gantry. Many of our components have been purchased from Amazon for convenient, fast, and trustworthy sourcing. —Aiden