Beerpong for engineers Is a competition organised by the industrial engineers of U Hasselt. Every year they oganize a technological challenge in which different educations and school compete against each other for the win. The competition my team and I participated in was called 'Beerpong for engineers'. 

The assignment

The goal of the challenge is to build a machine, operated by one or multiple motors, that is able to throw, fire, swing,... a tennis ball over a distance of 12 meters into a bucket. The machine should be activated with a button.

Electrical Control Panel

On the control panel are three buttons placed. The first one activates the speedometer which on it's turn controls the speed of the gears. The second button activates the rotation of the gears. The last one will activate the gate on top which allows the tennisball to start rolling off the slide.

The Gears

De gears on the machine are the point of application with the tennisball. The wheels are equipped with theeth on the edge to make sure they are able to grab the fabric of the ball. The momentum of the wheels is increased by connecting smaller gears to bigger gears.

The Frame

The frame of the machine is build on top of an aluminum profile. On top the slide and gears are screwed on with bolts. This way the gears are able to move closer or further from each other by slightly loosening them. On the sides of the profile are 3D printed protractors, they allow the gears and slide to be tilted to a wished angle.