Good Luck Beating This Air Hockey Robot
A team of students built a robotic air hockey table that runs on Arduino and Rasbperry Pi — and (almost) never loses!
Air hockey is a staple of arcades and various entertainment venues, but you’ve probably never one quite like this. Built by students as a part of a diploma thesis, this table requires only a single player with a servo-powered robotic striker defending the opposite goal.
The device is based on a Raspberry Pi, which provides overall game strategy using input from an overhead camera. This is assisted by a MOSFET-controlled lighting assembly, along with a uniquely colored puck for tracking. A touchscreen serves as user interface for game setup and even manually operating the striker.
The Raspberry Pi sends commands to an Arduino board over serial, which handles the movement of the striker via a pair of EM705 driver modules. The drive belt arrangement enables the two motors to be positioned on either side of the table, allowing for less moving weight and wiring complication. Each goal is equipped with a laser sensor to keep score, and a solenoid on the robot’s goal to pop the puck out — on the rare occasion is lets a shot through.
The build process — which took roughly a year — and system overview is distilled down into a couple minutes in the first video below, and the second shows it in action. More info is found in the first clip's description, including RPi and Arduino software, and there's even an online Fusion360 model available.