What is Chaockey?

Chaockey is a game the puts you against the computer.  Take on a salvaged Apple printer with your paddle and see if you get the puck past it for a goal!

Background

Chaockey is much more than just the final project for ME552, a course in Electromechanical Design taught by Prof. Brent Gillespie at the University of Michigan.  Chaockey is a dream made into reality --- a culmination of an entire semesters worth of 20-30 hour lab projects performed in a windowless room in the dungeons of the GG Brown building.  Throughout all the intensive labs, the basic principles and electromechanical design were beaten into us and almost all now appear in Chaockey.  Not to mention all the first-hand experience with debugging.  In the end, the rewards were just ... read on to see why ...

So, what is it?

Chaockey is an electromechanical toy.  From a gameplayer's point of view, the object of Chaockey is to strike an air hockey puck past a computer-controlled goalkeeper.  From an engineer's point of view:

Chaockey is a single player game with interactive computer feedback.  The challenge of the game is for the human player (offense) to navigate a physical object into a goal while being hindered by a computer controlled obstacle (defense).  The game's structure consists of three main subsystems: a sensing system, an information processor, and an active response system.

More specifically, the sensing system determines the puck path.  Puck trajectory is determined by two rows of photoresistors parallel to the goal line and the line of action of the goalie.

Now, the information processor.  As the puck crosses each strip, its location along that strip is sent to a real-time processor which uses the information to calculate the trajectory of the puck. This trajectory is extrapolated to the goal-line, giving the goalkeeper the position required to block the puck.

Finally, the response system.  The goalkeeper is mounted to the ink cartridge housing from a salvaged ink jet printer. We also incorporate the printer motor, belt-drive train, and quadrature encoder. Using an H-bridge driver the commanded motor position is achieved by integrating PID control with the encoder feedback.

The playing field itself consists of a plywood base with a two layer foam-core surface.  A sheet of plexiglass covers the field and photosensors to ensure smooth and speedy play.

So, say "Yes" today to Chaockey, and watch for it in stores to be the big newcomer this holiday season!