Ball Oscillating Bouncer

The purpose of this report is to document the need, objectives, marketing and engineering requirements, as well as validate the design of an autonomous control device capable of continuously bouncing a table tennis ball on a paddle. This includes the design of a self correcting system using lightweight materials, and as few sensors and components as possible to achieve a compact, portable design. To accomplish this, the system is designed to react to a ball falling from as short a distance as 10 centimeters above the paddle, meaning all sensor processing, control processing, and motor drives should be able to react within an appropriate timeframe. The overall system is broken down into four main parts: a sensor and sensor processing system, a controller and control processing system, an electromechanical motor system, and a DC power supply system. The sensor system shall be capable of detecting and analyzing ball trajectory and forward that information to the control processor. The control processor will generate a response to react to the ball trajectory and forward that information to the motor drives which will physically act to correct the ball position, thus completing the control sequence. ● System shall behave completely autonomously ● Four main subsystems: Sensor/Processor, Controller/Processor, Motors and Drives, and DC Power Supply. ● System will need to react quickly, sometimes in as short a time as 142 milliseconds