By Mission Design & Automation
This past school year, Mission Design & Automation sponsored a Hope College senior project group that included our very own Parker Bos, applications engineer, on the student team.
The group was tasked with creating a game machine for Mission to bring to career fairs, trade shows, and other industry events like the recent International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago. The goal: creating an interactive display to get people excited about automation.
Dr. Roger Veldman, Hope College engineering professor, shared that this was one of the more challenging student projects taken on by a group in the program. The level of finish, appearance, and aesthetic—as well as the durability and longevity of the machine to perform well and impress at events—was a high bar to meet.
The Senior Project: FANUC Robot-Powered Roulette Wheel
The project team designed and built a roulette machine that uses a FANUC LR Mate 200 iD with an auxiliary axis for extended range of motion, as well as Allen Bradley controls to power the roulette table.
How it works: The person playing the game makes a color or number probability bet on the human machine interface (HMI). The robot then drops a ball onto a slide, the ball rolls into the roulette wheel, and a sensor flags the ball’s position after it lands. The robot picks the ball, and based on the results, will pick and place the winning or losing prize into the chute to be retrieved.
Insights on the Design & Build Process
During an interview with Dr. Roger Veldman, he was asked about the process of partnering with Mission to bring the project to fruition.
“I think there is no doubt that without Mission’s support, there is no way we would have been successful in the project. The mentoring is what really stands out to me. We couldn’t be happier with Mission as a partner and that’s about as good as it could get,” Dr. Veldman said.
Watch the full conversation with Dr. Veldman and Parker Bos by clicking the video below!