[Hardware] Raspberry Pi-Powered Air Hockey Table Wins Games and Bruises Egos

[#REDSTAR ♪ ♫]

Can you beat this robotic air hockey AI?

 

 

Finding a worthy opponent is the only way to truly develop a skill. What better way to beef up your air hockey game than facing up against a robotic foe? This project, shared by Marasadu on Reddit, features a Raspberry Pi-powered air hockey robot that's seriously good at winning.

 

The air hockey table was designed by a team. It relies on stepper motors to move the opposing striker (the handle you use to move the puck). The entire operation is controlled by a Raspberry Pi.

 

The final build for the table was designed using Fusion 360, 3D design software from Autodesk. Some of the components used were 3D printed. The mainboard for the rig is a Raspberry Pi 4 while the stepper motors were controlled with Arduino Micros.

 

 

The table also features a touchscreen with a custom interface. You can manually control the robotic opponent with the touchscreen or let it automate turns. There is a camera fitted above the play area to help track the puck in real-time. The team used machine learning to train the robot to implement the best move possible for every turn.

 

If you want to check out this project, you can explore the full post on Reddit and a video breakdown of the project on YouTube. In the meantime, be sure to check back here on Tom's Hardware for more cool Raspberry Pi projects.