MECHANICAL ENGINEER
Radiation Gamma Blocker (Stanford ME 218A)
About the Project
This project was done as part of Stanford's ME 218A Mechatronics class. The project requirements were to design and build an arcade game that
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Was activated by the user inputting a token (called a TOT)
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Had at least unique three inputs
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Had audio/visual feedback to inform the user of game events
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Could be played in about 1 minute.
The Game
The Radiation Gamma-Blocker is a survival-styled arcade game in which players move three colored shields to block three different colors of falling light. The main LED array, made up of twenty tri-colored LEDs in four separate columns, represents falling radiation by having all the LEDs in a given column light up in succession, starting with the top LED and moving downward. Hidden behind the front panel, three servos actuate to show the physical motion of the shields. Each shield is controlled by three user inputs—the red shield is controlled by a slide potentiometer, the green shield is controlled by a rotary potentiometer, and the blue shield is controlled by a rightward-biased beam break, in which the blue shield will only move left when a hand blocks the infrared beam. A set of headphones plays ambient welcoming music before the game starts and provides other sound effects as the game progresses. Additionally, a fourth servo represents the Geiger counter above the LEDs which keeps track of time.
Upon approaching the machine, the LEDs flash in a colorful pattern. When the TOT is inserted at the top of the machine, it will pass through a beam break to trigger the start of the game. The TOT will land in a cup attached to the top of the Geiger counter and a fifth servo will block the TOT insertion hole, preventing any TOTs from coming through until the game finishes.
My Role
I worked primarily on the mechanical design of the overall system and the software and hardware implementation of the TOT Geiger counter. My CAD for the overall game and the state diagram that I implemented for the TOT system can be seen below.
More detailed info, including all state diagrams, electronic schematics, and code listing, can be found at the following link:
