Project
| # | Title | Team Members | TA | Documents | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 53 | [Updated RFA] - Efficient Card Shuffler with Cut Card Insert |
Alex Lo Faso Matt Garrity Steve Mathew |
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| **Efficient Card Shuffler with Cut Card Insert** Team Members: - Alexander Lo Faso (alofaso2) - Matt Garrity (garrity6) - Steve Mathew (stevem4) **Problem** Card games such as blackjack require shuffling of cards between rounds of play. Over time this can be a strenuous task for dealers and decrease playing time for players. In addition to this, games such as blackjack require a cut card to be inserted between rounds at varying deck penetration levels. There currently does not exist any card shuffler machines with a cut card insertion feature. Many card shuffle machines commercially available have very limited features and lack complexity. These lower quality machines have limited deck capacities, require a constant push of a button to operate, and require the manual retrieval of the shuffled deck which can be cumbersome when reshuffling the same decks multiple times. **Solution** Our solution is to design and build a card shuffling machine with added features of increased deck shuffle capacity, optical detection of shuffle completion, a retractable motorized shuffled deck tray, and a cut card insert feature with electrical deck penetration customization. These features lead to four subsystems namely card deck(s) detection, deck shuffling mechanism, cut card insertion, and the completed deck tray extension. The prevailing goal is to make the card shuffler as efficient as possible. There will only be three inputs available to the user. A shuffle button, a dial to set the cut card penetration, and a cut card insertion button. The entire shuffle function is fully automated with the push of a button. Once the user is ready for the cut card insertion, they will set the dial and press the cut card insert button which will electrically align the cut card insertion window and create a delay to give the user time to insert the cut card. **Solution Components** **Subsystem 1 (Card Deck(s) Detection)** This subsystem will detect whether cards are present in the input trays for the shuffler. Detection will be determined through the use of reflective optical sensors, and is critical for the prevention of overdriving motors and ensuring shuffling is completed to completion. The reflective sensors on each tray will measure the light reflected off the bottom card of the stack to determine if the tray is empty or still full. The IR sensors will be flushed to the bottom of the tray surface and its output will be fed to a comparator to differentiate between the signals for when no cards are present and for when there are cards. The resulting digital signal is read by the MCU through GPIO inputs. When the sensors report no cards are present, the MCU concludes that the shuffling process is complete. - Reflective infrared optical sensor (Vishay TCRT5000) - Comparator IC (LM393) **Subsystem 2 (Deck Shuffling Mechanism)** This subsystem is responsible for the physical shuffling of the cards. It will involve two motors positioned at the bottom of the pre-shuffle deck trays. Each motor will slide one card at a time from its respective card stack inwards into a common pile forming a shuffled card pile. The motors will be in contact with the cards by a wheel with a rubber edge. Once the shuffle button is pressed and the finished tray is fully retracted (from the previous operation), the motors will begin shuffling. To ensure that the cards are being shuffled reliably, a beam-break sensor will be positioned below the motor wheels, and as each card passes through the slot, the sensor will generate a pulse that is read by the MCU to confirm that no jam has occurred (or if there is no pulse, that there has been a jam, and to reset the cards) and to keep count of the cards that have been passed through. They will continue shuffling until signaled by subsystem 1 that there are no more cards remaining to be shuffled. - Servo Motor (HitecSKU: RB-Hit-27) - Optical beam-break sensor (omron ee-sx1103) **Subsystem 3 (Cut Card Insertion)** This section will include a user-controlled dial (0-100 scale) which will set the desired depth at which the cut card will be inserted into the shuffled deck (ex. Tuning the potentiometer halfway around would insert a cut card in the middle of the deck). The dial will be electronically coordinated with a slitted plate which will move upon the vertical axis along the card deck based on the dial’s input. A rotary potentiometer will serve as the dial, and the voltage read from the potentiometer will be fed into an ADC on the MCU (ESP32 comes with an ADC). The output of the ADC will be scaled to a corresponding linear displacement for the slitted plate, and the slitted plate will be driven by a stepper motor connected to a linear guide rail which will guide the plate up and down the deck. This allows for the user to insert the cut card practically anywhere within the card assortment. Additionally, we would add limit switches at the top and bottom of the rail to prevent any overtravel. - Rotary potentiometer (Bourns 91A1A-B28-L15) - Stepper motor (NEMA 17) - Motor driver (TMC2208) - Linear Guide Rail (MGN9H Linear Guide Rail + Carriage Block) - Limit Switch (Omron SS-3GLPT) **Subsystem 4 (Completed Deck Tray Extension)** This subsystem will be responsible for extending the completed shuffled deck at the end of the shuffle operation.This will require the use of one motor and one optical sensor. The motor used will be a small gear motor attached to a gear track. These are optimal since they have high torque and require low voltage to operate. In addition, we will use an optical sensor to detect when the shuffled deck has been retrieved from the extended tray. Once the shuffled deck is retrieved, the tray will retract automatically. - Reflective infrared optical sensor (Vishay TCRT5000) - Stepper motor (NEMA 17) - Motor driver (TMC2208) - Gear Track (22460300) **Criterion For Success** - Device successfully shuffles 4-6 standard size decks without any manual intervention - Pressing ‘start’ button once begins the shuffling process - Shuffling continues until all cards from the input trays are emptied and halts once there are no more cards left in the trays with ~95% accuracy (to account for potential physical mishaps) - If MCU detects jam, stop shuffling - Cut card insertion slot moves in accordance with dial, allowing for desired insertion at any deck penetration level - Bottom tray extends automatically upon shuffling completion - Bottom tray retracts when IR sensor reads there are no cards on the tray |
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