Mechanical Design


Mechanical layout and design of our system is fairly simple. We first constructed a playing surface from high-density particleboard. This playing surface was cut to the dimensions specified in the mechanical drawing. Walls were placed at the edges of the table to ensure that the ball would not roll of the table during play. Holes were cut out of the table to allow for placement of the servomotors. After experimenting with the system, we discovered that there were areas of the board in which the ball became trapped. We added sheet metal guides to keep the ball in the playable area of the table. Servos were chosen for actuation since they allow for quick response, high torque, and position control. The servos that were chosen allowed for 43 oz-in of torque and a speed of 0.20 seconds through 60 degrees of rotation. We found this to be more than ample for fixed speed servo actuation. In order to attach our "paddles" to the servos we used the standard armatures that came with our servos. We simply drilled holes into the armatures and mated them with our polyurethane paddles. The armature (with paddle) was then simply friction fitted onto the shaft of the servos.