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The main project goal was to complete a working prototype for an Autonomous Foosball Table (AFT), where a human player faces a robotic opponent. From the human perspective of the game, the foosball table is very similar to a regular table. The player(s) on the human side are controlled via a series of four handles that can be moved in and out and rotated to move the players linearly across the playing field and to kick the ball towards the opponent's goal. The autonomous side consists of:
> Eight servo motors used to manipulate the handles of the foosball table
> A microcontroller to activate the servo motors and communicate with the computer
> An over-head mounted webcam to track the ball and players
> A computer to process the webcam images, implement artificial intelligence, and communicate with the microcontroller
Budget constraints for the prototype slowed the project some and kept its functionality to a minimum. Proper motors to move the players at a competitive speed were found to be very expensive, so lower-end servos had to be used.
While this particular implementation was limited by cost and time, a larger gear ratio would yield a faster playing robot, although doing so would cost more than the $500 base price (price without power supply & computer).
> Eight servo motors used to manipulate the handles of the foosball table
> A microcontroller to activate the servo motors and communicate with the computer
> An over-head mounted webcam to track the ball and players
> A computer to process the webcam images, implement artificial intelligence, and communicate with the microcontroller
Budget constraints for the prototype slowed the project some and kept its functionality to a minimum. Proper motors to move the players at a competitive speed were found to be very expensive, so lower-end servos had to be used.
While this particular implementation was limited by cost and time, a larger gear ratio would yield a faster playing robot, although doing so would cost more than the $500 base price (price without power supply & computer).
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Signing UpStep 1Assembling the motor control board
The attached images are a full circuit schematic as well as a picture of the final product for the motor control board. All of these required parts may be purchased at most major online electronics stores (including Digi-Key and Mouser. As a side note, all of the parts used here were through hole, and thus, the parts may be assembled on a protoboard/breadboard, or using the attached PCB design. A much smaller package could be created by using a number of surface mount parts.
When we implemented, the design, we split the motor controls into 2 circuits, though there is no advantage to doing so other than any particular cabling scheme used. The small blue board implements the PWM control circuitry, which is basically just a clocked PIC-12F with some specialized code.
When we implemented, the design, we split the motor controls into 2 circuits, though there is no advantage to doing so other than any particular cabling scheme used. The small blue board implements the PWM control circuitry, which is basically just a clocked PIC-12F with some specialized code.
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in a championship game series, I won the most matches but lost the final games, so I lost.
RoboPoolTable
The robot is very limited by the mechanical design, but it's still pretty intimidating playing against it. It does a pretty good job defensively, as the software attempts to cut off the angle to the goal. Unfortunately, the offensive capabilities are rather unimpressive. The kicks are a little too slow and inaccurate.
@jcampbell:
As exciting as robot-on-robot action sounds, it would be pretty silly to have 2 of the same robots playing against eachother. I think it would be interesting, however, to make a competition like robocup, but with foosball