Autonomous Card Dealing and Poker Robot
ME 101 Design Project
INTRODUCTION
Facilitating a card game (poker)
Create a robot that is able to deal cards to any number of players in a game of poker and deal the river cards, both face up and face down. The robot keeps track of each players balance and decisions so that no chips are required. This makes learning and playing poker a lot easier and more efficient.
ENGINEERING PROCESS
Problem solving and designing
Some mechanical issues that we faced when developing this robot include:
1. Flipping a card face up and face down
After ideating 10+ ideas and prototyping 3 of them, the final design can be seen on the right as the green 3D printed part
2. Rotating the robot without twisting cables
Numerous hours researching and testing, a worm gear was used and the wire required to power it was fed through the center of it.
THE END RESULT
Play poker with a press of a button
In the end the robot is successfully and efficiently be able to:
Deal cards to any number of players within a 180 degree range in front of it
Place the river cards face up and face down
Count each players chips and record their decisions
Determine if a player runs out of money and decide the winner
The project was a success and met all the functional and constraint requirements.
Rotating Basketball Hoop Mechanism
ME 100 Design Project
THE GOAL
Creating a new toy
The goal of this project was to develop an innovative toy that was designed, manufactured and tested within a month. Basketball nets have stayed the same for decades, changing only small parts such as the net, rim and backboard. One thing that has stayed the same over these years; it stayed static! The idea of a non-static basketball net was chosen.
ENGINEERING PROCESS
Developing the theory and design
To develop the theory behind the moving net, 10+ functional requirements were created. Some examples include, it must have some sort of rotational movement, the net must stay upright and it must be able to hang on any standard door.
After several sketches and engineering drawings, the design was modelled using SolidEdge and SOLIDWORKS as proof of concept as shown.
THE END RESULT AND CONCLUSION
Successful prototype and presentation
Several parts including the basketball net, ball and backboard were outsourced, ensuring money and time constraints were met. Major rotating components were designed and 3D printed with proper tolerances. Assembling everything presented more issues that were not taken to account but were easily resolved using teamwork and rapidly prototyped 3D printed parts.
The toy was presented at a symposium where it worked perfectly and successfully met all functional requirements set previously.
