Arduino Soccer Game

Individual: 11/01- 11/10 2021

Background

For ME30: Electromechanical Systems & Robotics I, we were tasked with designing a game that does not yet exist. The requirements were as followed:

Must require user input and have an output
Must have a moving electromechanical system
Must be controlled by a microcontroller

The game I chose was inspired by the childhood game my brother and I played while at the laundromat. One of us would use one palm as the “goal net,” our other hand as a “goalie,” and the other would flick a marble with their pointer finger.

Research

Microcontroller (Arduino MKR WiFi 1010)
- Design resources (i.e. IDE, example code)
  - For the requirements of this project and the timeline for which the project needed to be completed, I chose an 8-bit microcontroller. Arduino's code-executing processor's relationship with physical pins was straightforward in that if I changed the voltage of a pin, the value located in the processor would also change. The example code also made it relatively easy to understand the language and syntax used.
Motor (NEMA 17, Stepper Motor 12V)
- In soccer, the goalie must move to block the ball from reaching the net. To simplify the goalie's motion, I chose a linear and repeatable motion. This was where the stepper motor won me over. I wanted external control from the Arduino to make the motor shaft turn, with predefined steps and no position errors. Since I didn't need a high speed or torque, 12V would suffice.

Design

Testing/Iteration

Material: Avoid using acrylic for gear/ pinion
The pieces wouldn’t move as smoothly and the glue used slightly increased the height of the rack, making it more difficult for the gear to rotate.
Measurements:
Increase the length of the “field”
For 3D printed material, use -/+ 2mm instead of -/+ 1mm and add a fillet to the outer edges
User input/output: Using sensors & LED screen
Instead of having the ball fall into a chute, add a sensor to the net that then “communicates” with the LED screen to notify users that they made a goal
Enclose the electronics

Future Design

Difficult to access tools to complete this design

due to COVID restrictions.