13. Applications and implications

This week, I focused more on my final project, what I will do with it, how I will make it, and who it will use it

Who is it for?

My final project, the Volleyball Mat, will mainly be for highschool volleyball students looking to improve their serve or even learn how to serve overhand instead of sticking to underhand. I hope to lengthen the range of who will be able to use just the common idea of my product to other sports like fencing and lacrosse.

Who has done it before hand?

While there have been different ways to practice serves beforehand with different teathers, these simply focus on the contact between the hand and the ball rather than the placement of the ball. While contact does mean a lot, this mat will help perfect the serve by reporting the user numerical data that they can interput to improve their serve. This sets it apart from other sports equipment that has not applied STEM to improve the overall performance of the athlete.

What will I design?

I will design a volleyball mat which will be designed to fit a 40 square ft. space. The mat will be made with 5 different layers, two copper sheets sandwiching a 1/2 thick sheet of foam and all of that sandwiched between two pieces of 1/4 inch foam. The design I will make in the future will involve an electronic fabric in the middle that will make the overall mat less damagable and easier to move. Instead of having a plastic change done to the copper (which would there ruin the abilities of the machine), the electric fabric would retain it’s shape. This would keep the durabilty of the volleyball mat up and the overall cost down.

What material will I use?

I will use foam mats and sheets of copper. These will be layered in

Where will the materials come from?

I’ll get my materials from McMaster Carr. There is a store 20 minutes away from my home. I’ve also ordered a couple materials from amazon (link here)[] and I repedeatly got components for boards at LCCC. One day if I manufacture this myself on a larger scale, I hope to get my materials wholesale so that I can get a better price and hopefully save a little bit.

How much do they cost?

According to the invoice, each 12x12 sheet of

What parts of the system will be made?

The system will be made of a Step Response board,

What six processes will be use?

Six of the processes I will use are:

### Electronics Production
### Vinyl Cutting
### Programming ( GUI )
### Laser Cutting
### Networking
### CAD

My Input Board

My input board is a step response board that I’ve milled.

Here is the link to my input board week

What questions need to be answered?

I need to answer:

  • How can I put it up?
  • Where can I put it up?
  • How do I connect to the app?
  • How much does it cost? (with time)
  • How much can it withstand?

How will it be evaluated?

I will first test out my system by testing whether my step response code works or not. I will use an Arduino Pro Mini to do these preliminary tests before I switch to my own Step Response baord. If my Step Response board also works with the code, then I know that neither of the pieces have faults in them. Next, I will use my GUI to see if my data collected by the program translates nicely. One that is done, I will take the mini cell I’ve created to properly ‘tune’ my project. Once I’ve properly calibrated my entire system with an actual volleyball, it will be ready to hang up and server against on the wall!