Category: Vivian’s Status Reports

This week I wrapped up the acrylic board paining and finalized the finished surface. I also fixed the servo bugs with wiring issues on the breadboard and ordered backup components in case certain things fail in the next week during testing. Overall, the system is fully integrated on my end with the pockets, servo, and audio, keypad, LCD screen.

Next week I plan on ironing out a few minor bugs with the game state. There are a few errors that occur where the ball gets stuck in a weird state or the reset button does not work properly. I also want to finazlize the wiring to make it robust and stable.

This week, I put together and wired up all the breakbeams onto the final board using extended male to female wires and nuts + bolts. I also implemented the game board audio using a DFAudio player and microSD card and wired up the GPIO extender board as well. In addition, I painted the scoreboard using spray paint. I also revised the code to refelect each of the tested components and made a pin-out for every component.

For the next week, I want to focus on system wide integration. I would like to be a bit more ahead on it as of now.  I ordered the stickers and more paint to finish the surface completely, and am looking into possibly ordering a new servo to support different speeds.

During this project I mostly learned things that don’t really come up as much in class, like how to actually integrate a bunch of hardware together and deal with real-world issues. For example, working with the GPIO expander, handling multiple protocols at once (UART/I2C), and figuring out power/grounding problems were all new. I also got more comfortable debugging when things don’t work cleanly, like sensor noise or weird timing issues. I mainly learned by just testing things in small pieces first and then combining them, and using serial prints and basic tools to figure out what was going wrong. I also learned a lot about project planning and integration– especially when parts don’t work as expected or do not have well defined data sheets.

This week I got the paddle system working for our demo, which was my main task. I set up the system, tested the paddle, and confirmed that the mechanism could perform the swing motion as expected. I also ordered more breakbeam sensors and a GPIO expander so we can continue building the scoring system. In addition, I am planning on refining the under-game system for the ball routing underneath the board.

For verification, I have already run basic functional tests to confirm that the paddle responds to commands and works consistently enough for demonstration. Next, I plan to run more structured tests on paddle repeatability, under stress loads and scoring sensor detection accuracy. I will analyze these results by measuring whether the paddle actuates consistently and whether the breakbeams correctly detect scoring events with minimal false triggers. This will help verify that my subsystem meets our design requirements for responsiveness and reliable score detection.

For validation, we will test the full gameplay flow as a team: swing input, paddle swing, ball scoring, sensor detection, and scoreboard update. This will help us determine whether the system works as intended for the overall game use case.

My progress is on schedule since I was able to get the paddle working for the demo. Next week, I hope to continue refining the under-game system, integrate more breakbeams, do more complete testing of the paddle/ scoring system, and also get the basic audio up and working.

This week, I focused on integrating my two subsystems together. I was able to get the servo working in line with Bing’s ESP, so he is able to send a signal to actuate the servo. In addition to this, Aiden 3D printed holders for the breakbeams, and I was able to test those and have the microcontroller detect when it was broken. However, the breakbeams are less sensitive than I would like, and although they work, it is a little buggy and I would like to look into alternatives. These two subsystems are integrated within a larger block of code, where I was able to simulate gameplay with a serial input ‘p’ from my keyboard for pitch (in placeholder of the gantry), receive a signal from Bing’s ESP though Bluetooth, and detect scoring with two different breakbeams.

Next week, I would like to have a better solution to the breakbeams and further test its sensitivity. I would also like to start on the scoreboard and finalize the design of it. I also want to stress test my systems and finalize the gameplay flow (hits, runs, etc) and look into creating a custom breadboard for hooking up the GPIO pins.

I am on track for this week as I have my system integrated, tested and published to Git.

This week, I tested the IR beam sensors and the new servo. I was able to get a visual of the servo’s strength with the 3d printed magnet, and it worked well and was able to it it with the expected torque and speed calcualted in my design. In addition to this, I integrated the systems together and was able to get a mini state machine working with one sensor and the servo. With this, I am able to send a serial input into the GPIO pin of the microcontroller to swing the bat, have a detection for the IR beam, and switch states to either hit detected or miss.

I am on schedule for this week, and want to scale to at least two sensors for the demo next week. Additionally, I want to get a prototype for the recieving system up with physical cups and also coordinate with Bing on the Bluetooth aspect. I would also like to do more stress testing on the sensors with different lighting conditions.

This week, I focused on getting the new servo up and working in addition to the game board state code. In addition, me and Aiden attached the 3D printed paddle onto the new servo. We will get a demo up and working next week with the visual speed verification of the paddle so we can make sure it aligns with our expectations. currently, we are still using the Arduino as out current STM has not arrived yet (Bing has one for his bat but we need another, it was out of stock so it did not get shipped). I also did research on which sensor to order, and am going to order by Monday next week so I can have one sensor ready to test and further expand upon that for the other sensors we plan to have.

I am slightly behind as I missed class on Wednesday, but aim to get extra work done on Sunday to get aught up. I expect to have a working paddle demo by Monday and also further estimates for the torque. We do not have the metal ball yet, so I would like to have that order sand tested as soon as possible. I also need to communicate with Bing on getting the servo/bluetooth signal set up.

In the next week, I want to have a complete demo of the paddle working so I can proceed with the game state testing. I have the baseline code written, but it will obviously require testing and debugging for it to be fully functional and as robust as we would like for the final demo. I also want to order the sensors.

This week, I got the servo and started getting some code up and running on it just for testing purposes. In addition to this, I worked on our abstract by outlining the game board design and also the paddle design. As a byproduct, I ordered the new servo according to the calculations in the abstract for the torque and speed specifications and it came in on the Friday before break, so I will pick that up this week and continue working on it.

I would have liked to have the real servo working earlier along with the actual STM, but for some reason we were only delivered one instead of two so I temporarily used an old Arduino. I would not say that I am behind. Since I tested on the smaller servo, I have the logistics for how to upload and flash code onto the Arduino.

This week, I want to get the code for the game board logic up (ex start stop reset logic) and also coordinate with Bing for bluetooth packet specifics.

This week, we worked on the presentation for the design review. Bing and I met on Sunday night and did significant work on the slides and the diagrams. I re drew some schematics for the board. Our group also met outside of class and discussed new plans for the ball return mechanism regarding the gantry and the game board, and also briefly talked with Hyeong on his concerns regarding timing. This week, I also picked up the servo from the recieving lab and am waiting on Bing’s microcontroller to get in so I can fully test the servo’s capabilities. In the meantime, I aked Aiden to bring an exisiting Arduino microcontroller than I can use on Monday while I wait for our main one to arrive.

I would have liked the actual microcontroller we were using to have arrived by now,  but unfortunately that was out of our control as we ordered over a week ago. Otherwise, I am confident I can make sufficient progress with a temporary microcontroller as the code should remain the same.

In the next week, I hope to have code written fro the microcontroller and get an idea of how I will integrate the paddle into the game board. I also want to figure out power sources and re order different microcontrollers if needed. From Bing, I also want to understand the BT signal he is sendng better and read more into the library for that.

This week , I helped the team with the presentation and we all got together on call and edited the slides together.Throughout the week,  researched what parts would be best– this is documented within our group design documentation. Specifically, I outlined why I chose the specific parts I ordered. Additionally,  actually submitted the order form or my portion of the project and messaged our TA about getting those parts.  I drew out a diagram detailing the connections I needed in order for it to work. This diagram is included within our block diagram.

I would say my portion is on schedule. According to our Gantt chart, I just needed to have the parts ordered by this week and am focusing on prototyping and testing next week to make sure they work as expected. I want to make sure I have all the connections detailed properly so I can hit the ground running next week.

In the next week, i hope to have a rough prototype of the bat swing and to order additional parts if mine do not work as expected. A concern for me is the speed of the servo and the torque needed to hit the ball. I ordered some test servos for now just to get it up and running as the code will be similar no matter which servo I end up using. I want to have a prototype at the very least, even if the servo I ordered does not end up being the one I end up using.

This past week, I gave the presentation on our project proposal. I also created most of the slides shown here Team_C5_Magee_Wang_Bhakdibhumi for the first presentation. I hand-drew out diagrams and did research on the semantics of our project, specifically outlining each person’s tasks and the use cases of our project clearly.My progress is on schedule, and we also created a Gantt chart to further document day by day progress.

In the next week, I hope to have a detailed list of the components I need for my project and a good idea of how it will connect with my other teammate’s parts. This goes along with the parts list, but I also want to draw out the mechanism for how the automatic paddle will work and the software modules I will need for it.  Additionally, I also want to get started on helping Bing with his presentation next week.