The robot collects the ping-pong balls after the games
The robot collects the ping-pong balls after the games
Arduino Team — January 23, 2023
If you frequent the driving ranges, you've probably seen a machine (often attached to the front of an armored golf cart) designed to pick up golf balls. Because a driving range can easily fill with thousands of golf balls per hour, such machines are necessary. After noticing that no one wanted to pick up ping pong balls after games, Maxime Monsieur and his team (Oumaima Achkif, Reda El Marssse, and Amir Farbod) built this robot that collects ping pong balls using a similar mechanism to those used for golf balls.
Like a golf ball scoop machine, this robot scoops up golf balls using a spinning mechanism that looks like something you'd see on an agricultural harvester. All the ping pong balls in front of the robot are pushed towards this mechanism by a pair of spring loaded arms. The spinning mechanism then pushes the ping pong balls up a ramp and into a bin. The robot moves around the room like an old robot vacuum: moving forward until it encounters a wall, then turning in a random direction.
The team built the robot's chassis and body by combining laser-cut MDF and 3D-printed plastic parts. It has two stepper motors that spin the two drive wheels and a DC motor that spins the pick-up mechanism. An ultrasonic sensor detects walls and other obstacles. An Arduino Uno board controls the two stepper motors via A4988 driver boards and turns on the DC motor via a relay module.
In the tests, this robot seems to work rather well, even if its navigation is not very efficient. No word if nearby players try to bombard the robot with ping pong balls while it's running.
Arduino Team — January 23, 2023
If you frequent the driving ranges, you've probably seen a machine (often attached to the front of an armored golf cart) designed to pick up golf balls. Because a driving range can easily fill with thousands of golf balls per hour, such machines are necessary. After noticing that no one wanted to pick up ping pong balls after games, Maxime Monsieur and his team (Oumaima Achkif, Reda El Marssse, and Amir Farbod) built this robot that collects ping pong balls using a similar mechanism to those used for golf balls.
Like a golf ball scoop machine, this robot scoops up golf balls using a spinning mechanism that looks like something you'd see on an agricultural harvester. All the ping pong balls in front of the robot are pushed towards this mechanism by a pair of spring loaded arms. The spinning mechanism then pushes the ping pong balls up a ramp and into a bin. The robot moves around the room like an old robot vacuum: moving forward until it encounters a wall, then turning in a random direction.
The team built the robot's chassis and body by combining laser-cut MDF and 3D-printed plastic parts. It has two stepper motors that spin the two drive wheels and a DC motor that spins the pick-up mechanism. An ultrasonic sensor detects walls and other obstacles. An Arduino Uno board controls the two stepper motors via A4988 driver boards and turns on the DC motor via a relay module.
In the tests, this robot seems to work rather well, even if its navigation is not very efficient. No word if nearby players try to bombard the robot with ping pong balls while it's running.
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