University of Nevada, Reno Remote-Controlled Bowling Pinsetter A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING by WALFREDO C. PUBLICO III Steven King, PE, Thesis Advisor May, 2016 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA THE HONORS PROGRAM RENO We recommend that the thesis prepared under our supervision by WALFREDO C. PUBLICO III entitled Remote-Controlled Bowling Pinsetter be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING ______________________________________________ Steven King, PE, Mechanical Engineering, Thesis Advisor ______________________________________________ Tamara Valentine, Ph.D., Director, Honors Program May 2016 i Abstract Team Turkey has been paired with Marvin Picollo School, a special education school, in Reno, NV to build an assistive device for their adaptive physical education courses. Buddy Lowe, the school’s adaptive P.E. instructor, wanted Team Turkey to construct a remote-controlled bowling pin setter for his classes. The goal of this project was to construct a device that allows Buddy to use bowling as a class activity to help his students develop gross motor skills. Although Buddy already uses bowling in his class, the time he loses by manually resetting the pins between turns causes his students to lose focus. As a solution, Team Turkey constructed a device similar to the pinsetter at the end of a bowling alley. The pinsetter, however, is controlled by a wireless remote and allows Buddy to keep the attention of his students while resetting the pins at the same time. The device also resets pins faster than by hand, allowing more students to use the device to further develop their motor skills within their allotted P.E. time. ii Table of Contents Abstract…………………………………………………..…………………..i Table of Contents……………………………………………………………ii List of Figures………………………………………………………………iii Introduction………………………………………………………………….1 Literature Review……………………………………………………………2 The Engineering Design Process: Fall Semester…………………………….4 The Engineering Design Process: Spring Semester……….………………..14 Proof of Concept to the Final Product……………………………………...18 Conclusions and Future Possibilities……………………………………….22 Works Cited………………………………………………………………...26 Appendix A: Product Design Specifications……………….……………….27 Appendix B: Engineering Design Analysis……………….………………..29 Appendix C: PoC Bill of Materials………………………….……………...32 Appendix D: Motor Datasheet……………………………….……………..36 Appendix E: Code…………………………………………….…………….41 Appendix F: 3D Printed Spool……………………………….……………..45 Appendix G: PoC Assembly Instructions…………………….…………….48 Appendix H: Brainstorming Code………………………………………….53 Appendix I: Design Control Traceability Matrix…………….……………..55 Appendix J: Product Requirements Specification………………………….59 Appendix K: Pinsetter Operations Manual…………………….…………...62 iii List of Figures Figure 1: Design Concept 1 Figure 2: Design Concept 2 Figure 3: Design Concept 3 Figure 4: Design Concept 4 Figure 5: Solidworks Representation of Finished Project Figure 6: Setup of Proof of Concept Figure 7: Polulu 12V, 100:1 Gear Motor with Encoder Figure 8: Solidworks Representation of Motor Mounted to Board Figure 9: Flowchart for Code Design Figure 10: Solidworks Isometric View of Custom-Made Spool Figure 11: Casters Mounted to Frame for Portability Figure 12: Power Strip Placement Figure 13: Electromechanical Components within Device Figure 14: Open Remote Case Figure 15: Front Display of Remote Figure 16: Finished Product 1 Introduction Marvin Picollo School is a special-education learning institution in Reno, Nevada that provides adaptive physical education (P.E.) as well as vocational training for its students in order to help them transition into adult life. However, high susceptibility to distractions are a common issue for special-education students. The effectiveness of training exercises are sometimes limited by time lapses that divert students’ attention away from their activity. Although the faculty at Picollo School does well in accommodating their special- needs students in the classroom environment, the adaptive PE teacher, Buddy Lowe, has expressed concern regarding one of his gross motor skill activities—bowling. Gross motor skills are defined as larger physical movements, such as running or throwing or simply the wave of an arm. In order to develop these movements in his more physically challenged students, Mr. Lowe implements a variation of bowling in his lesson plans. However, because Mr. Lowe must manually collect and reset the bowling pins in his current setup, more of his time and energy is spent on menial labor and less on tending to the needs of his individual students. Long periods between bowling turns leads to his students becoming distracted and disorderly, thus, limiting the effectiveness of his training exercises. Picollo School has requested a pin-setting device that would allow the instructor to train his students more efficiently and allow students to take more turns within their allotted class time. Because he wants to be able to share this device with other schools and use it in locations other than the Picollo School gymnasium, Mr. Lowe has also requested that the device be portable. 2 With these problems considered, the primary objectives of this project was: 1. To minimize the time between students’ turns in Mr. Lowe’s bowling activity by designing a device that mechanically resets bowling pins. 2. To design the device to be easily storable and transportable. Team 06, AKA “Team Turkey”, of the 2015-2016 Mechanical Engineering Capstone course undertook the challenge to design a system that meets these objectives. Our teams consists of five Mechanical Engineering students: myself, Tamzin Atkins, Hayden Nickel, Destiny Phan, and Joseph Young. A Product Requirements Specifications (PRS) sheet was developed to establish design goals related not only to customer requirements but also engineering requirements regarding product safety, usability, marketing, and maintenance. In its essence, the PRS is a checklist to gauge the success of the project over the year-long design process. Literature Review A pinsetter is a machine located at the end of a bowling alley that automatically raises and resets ten full-sized plastic bowling pins after they are struck. Several designs for small bowling lanes which automatically reset pins are already used in arcades and game centers. The primary issues with these systems are that they are not easily portable nor readily accessible for disabled students and their assistive equipment. Full-size bowling alleys are also ineffective options because most special-education students are unable to lift a standard bowling ball. These designs meet the primary focus of the requested design at the expense of other features necessary for the unit to benefit Picollo 3 School. Three systems were identified and compared in order to present the current solutions for someone desiring a portable bowling station. The first system is a rental unit provided by Mike’s Music Inc. This system is designed for use at parties and special events, and rental includes professional attendants for set-up and operation [1]. The size of this system requires significant storage space and makes transportation impractical for most teachers. It also does not meet the request from the school for automatically resetting pins. The second system considered is a small set made by Sportcraft. This set is made of plastic and is designed to be taken apart for easy storage and transportation. Features include automatic ball return and electronic scoring [2]. These features fit several of the specifications desired by the teachers, but the primary requirement for a semi-automated pin reset function is not met. The small size of this system also reduces the student’s experience because they would not be able to have the same range of motion that a larger bowling lane can offer. The final system considered is a patent filed by Kevin Burtchett in 1993. This system features an automatic ball return, is comparable in size to a sofa, and does not have a mechanism for automatic resetting [3]. The lane is approximately one foot off the ground which would make participation difficult or impossible for many of the students at Picollo School. The pins and ball are also very small which limits the ability of the student to develop gross motor skills. Each of these systems represents a potential solution to the problem of portable bowling for special education students. However, each of these systems also has its benefits and limitations when considering the intended user—special-education. 4 The Engineering Design Process: Fall Semester In order to meet the needs of Picollo School, the device had to meet three primary design requirements: automatic pin setting, faster reset, and portability. The goal was to design and build an automatic pin setting system of minimal weight and size. The final product had to be easily stored within a storage closet and able to be moved by a single teacher. The most important specifications and design objectives have been identified and are listed in Table 1 below. Detailed design targets are identified in the Product Design Specifications (PDS) document in Appendix A. Elements of the PDS include features, deadlines, manufacturing and marketing details, and other standards and regulations which the design team must consider. Table 1: Customer Requirements and Design Objectives. From the three customer