Week 4: Designing the Frame and General Maintenance

Over the course of time between Weeks 3 and 4, it was agreed to split up and do research and purchasing for materials and resources. This included a trip to Home Depot to pick up quantities of wood for the frame and structural materials such as wood glue, screws, and braces; an order of Plexiglas; and the research and collection of hand tools and machine-shop tools available.

Additionally, the blog was overhauled to reflect the design theme of the project further. This involved designing and implementing customized HTML/CSS markup, establishing a unique color scheme and appearance beyond the standardized Blogger layout, and organizing the links and posts to make navigation of the site more efficient and intuitive. Although it would be easier to simply use the preset layout, it was decided a well-designed website would improve the aesthetic appeal of the product as a whole.

Reconvening on Tuesday for Week 4's lab, much of the time in lab was spent determining the dimensions of the frame and marking up the wood as desired; immediately following lab, the wood was brought to the machine shop to be altered to match these designs. This allowed the immediate construction of the frame, matching the deadline imposed by the proposed schedule. These dimensions can be viewed in the picture below:

Picture 1: An illustration of the box dimensions

The box is 18.5" wide, 23.75" high, and 9.5" deep and features four ramps, each 0.75" high and reaching from the edge of the conveyor space to 3" short of the opposite side of the box. These ramps differ by 3" at their closest sections. A width of 4.5" was allotted for the conveyor space.

Overall, it was a very productive lab. All items needed for player movement and frame completion were purchased on Saturday, April 26, to meet the schedule for manufacturing.

Week 3: Nailing Down the Concepts

The final proposed idea for the Pirate Arrrcade! was presented to the instructor and met with approval. A simulation of the mechanical properties was made in AutoCAD; to view this simulation of the model in greater detail, view the following promotional video:

     

Basic model (back)

     
The basic model shows the ramps, front panel with slots, space for the vertical conveyor belt, and figure movement mechanism. The vertical conveyor belt, attached to a servo, will carry the steel balls from a hopper at the bottom of the arcade to the top of the arcade and eject them down the ramps. The figure movement controls will enable the user to jump over balls and cease motion. The initial design calls for a magnetic sensor in the figure to detect magnetic ball collision; when the magnetic sensor reads a magnetic value (that is, a ball passes within proximity of the player and therefore the sensor) and results in a negative endgame.

Figure movement mechanism

The initial figure movement mechanism is comprised of two servo motors attached to a gear which climbs up two shafts. The bracket attached to the figure will be attached to a ball bearing within the slot of the horizontal beam. This will allow for x-direction movement as the beam moves upwards. As a result, the figure will move up the ramps.

Concept drawing

The concept drawing shows possible ideas for design.  The function of the game will be worked on, and then design will be considered, but the concept drawing illustrates the aesthetic ideas behind the arcade.

The toy concept was presented to children for their input. Its appeal was graded on a scale from 1 to 5. Furthermore, during this time, changes were made to the initial design of the game.  Plans were developed to acquire raw materials and tools, research the resources available for woodworking, and make a frame by next lab meeting. The group decided to meet every other night on Floor 15 of Millennium Hall to maintain accountability and project movement. The formal design proposal was started in Week 2, and will be completed by Friday. 

Modified collision detection

The initial plan for collision detection between magnetic balls and the figure was to use a magnetic sensor on the figure.  To simplify this mechanism, the figure will have an accelerometer attached to its axle (the blue box on the model).  This accelerometer will detect when the ball collides with the figure.

The initial design for the figure movement included two servos and gears to climb up two vertical shafts.  This will be modified to two servos connected to a pulley to lift the beam with the ball bearing and figure.  The new approach will be less complicated than fitting a gear to a vertical shaft.

Below is a tentative list of materials and a rough timeline for the project.  Several systems will be developed in conjunction to expedite the process and improve testing time.

Materials and Timeline

Process	Materials	Tools and Resources
Frame Week 4	24” x 20” x 9” frame with base Backdrop Hinges (2) Handle Lock Wooden ramps Plexiglas cover	Screws/screwdrivers Drill Wood glue Machine shop
Figure movement and jump Week 5	Servo motors (2) Cables Axle, pendulum, figure* Pulley Push buttons (2) Raspberry Pi Wires Connectors Battery 5-gram servo or piston Beam with slot Ball bearing	Soldering gun Pliers Solder
Cannon balls Week 7	10 steel balls Bike chain Ball platforms* 1 servo Gear Battery 1 piston 1 “door” (barrier between hopper and conveyor)*	Soldering gun Solder
Ball Detection Week 7	Accelerometer Wires	Soldering gun Solder
Testing Weeks 7-10	Miscellaneous; as needed

* denotes 3-D printing

Finally, testing was discussed. Testing will be performed with the individual systems listed in the first column, and then with the systems integrated together as each is developed. The core of the game should be built as soon as possible to assure enough time to fix errors. More research and planning will help decided where and how to build each system.

Week 2: Coming Up with a Project Design

At the start of this term, there were numerous ideas floating around for different toy designs, but nothing concrete. The ideas considered included engineering toys marketed towards girls; helicopter battle sets; a remote-controlled basketball hoop; a gyroscope controlled by human motion; and music games that required players to mimic pitch and rhythm. For these assorted concepts, discussion occurred further to determine what would be practical to design and enjoyable for children to use. The design choice selected to propose first was the remote-controlled basketball hoop, with an aesthetic style of jungle wildlife to entertain the demographic of children ages 5-7.

Unfortunately, this proposal was not accepted. After numerous hours of sketching out different designs and suggesting and rejecting ideas both concrete and abstract, a new idea came into consideration: an arcade-style, interactive obstacle course.

From a prototype perspective, the design consists of an upright box with alternating ramps at varying height levels. The player controls a character which moves at a constant speed up the ramps; two buttons offer the player the ability to make the character jump and stop its motion up the ramps. These two controls are the only tools the player has to avoid the obstacles: small metal balls which roll down the ramp system at random intervals towards the character. The game is won when the character reaches the highest ramp without colliding with any of the obstacles.

To propose the idea, more work needed to be done: it was an interesting prototype, but it lacked character. An aesthetic design was needed. Those considered included a jungle theme, an industrial theme, an antique theme, and, finally, a pirate theme. The latter was immediately selected as the best choice. The obstacles became cannonballs launched down the swaying deck of a ship, dodged by a swaggering captain gamely attempting to get to his treasure; the box lost its prototype look and became a chest, and the project became Pirate Arrrcade.

Week 1: Project Overview

AHOY MATEYS!

Our goal is to create a fun game where you get to move up wooden planks, dodge cannonballs and find booty! You can come aboard for entertainment starting at ages seven and up.  Building this Pirate Arrrcade experience will not be an easy feat.  It will require integrating mechanical and electrical systems through an Arduino. The mechanical systems will include Pirate Joe's ascent, jumps, and wait times.  Electrical and software systems will range from sensing cannon ball collisions to obeying user input on the control buttons. Lastly, the design of the game will be enhanced to give you the full benefit of a buccaneer's life at sea!

Follow our voyage journal and charts for weekly updates.  So get your hornpipe and join us on this swashbucklin' adventure!