I like every part of this idea except the bit where players are strapped in to the rail - I think that's a recipe for injury.

I think that you will have to think about a way to restrict a) player movement (in a way that doesn't strap them to anything), b) player strength, and c) access to the ball. You could think about sealing the soccer ball behind a cage or partial net so that they can't pick the ball up at all - they only have access to it with their feet. If you put such a cage up, it should also restrict access to the field to prevent players from running up to the goal. This could potentially address B as well - think about the force you can generate with a kick. we don't want that kind of force inside the room, especially when we can't control it.

Otherwise, I really like the concept.

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This looks like a lot of fun, and the moving Foosball men could a great intimidation factor to the experience. Great job finding a general enough classic game to rip off without intellectual property concerns!

Guests would have to be prevented from moving towards the front of the room by a barrier of some sort to prevent cheating and keep them away from big moving parts.

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I like the idea of the human-scaled foosball table. It is relatively intuitive--especially since the room is labeled "Foosball Frenzy." This could be really fun because the group has to work together to score goals. Based on the current design, there is the potential for players to game the system and roam around the room freely. What prevents the players from getting too close and accidentally getting hit when the defenders move side to side? I appreciate that the players receive a visual confirmation that they scored a goal via the goal sign and that the room is built at an angle to facilitate gravity.

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This sounds like a really fun game that has lots of potential! The players would definitely enjoy playing such a game.

I do have a few concerns with this game however. How do you ensure that the players will strap themselves in? They could just take a ball, walk forward and throw it into the goal. Perhaps have a sensor within the straps?

You might also want to ensure that there is a roof such that the balls won't go out of bounds. Is there a time limit for them to score the 3 goals? As someone who doesn't know how to aim the football that well, I can imagine it will take me some time to shoot into the goal, even without a goalie and defenders.

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I think if you can prevent visitors from interfering with this mechanism that it will work. You would want to make sure that it would survive its player (goalie or defender) being hit with the ball.

Very nice sketch. I'm interested to see how you are providing vertical support to the system so that the weight of the defender doesn't affect the movement of the belt.

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This could work! Only one motor and an idler pulley should probably be considered. Two horizontal pipes over which the defenders slide should also be considered to give some torque resistance from low ball strikes.

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The defender conveyor seems like a mechanism that is feasible to implement. To vary the experience and motivate players to come back, perhaps the movement can be programmed to move side by side at different speeds and different lengths. Considering safety, it would be good to section off the moving defenders in some way so that players do not approach the game pieces and get injured while they move (e.g., install sensors in the wall so that if the players--but not the balls--get too close to the defenders, they fail).

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The gear system definitely would be feasible. Perhaps you can add more points of contact to the defender such that it would be more rigid and stable. Maybe the feet of the defender can be attached to a rail on the floor?

Also, we have to be careful to adopt some safety measures such that no one can accidentally put their hands into the gears.

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Unfortunately I don't think this is feasible. I think that strapping everyone together will cause an injury to someone, probably a non-athletic group member who is overpowered by one of their friends. I can also picture people losing their footing and hanging their entire weight on the bar, which would probably hurt them given that there is only one restraint, and would definitely not be good for your mechanism.

Ignoring that for the moment though, this concept does not take visitor height into consideration. You will have a tough time designing a mechanism that will be usable by everyone if the bar must be at a fixed height.

It's also awkward for just two people or for more than three.

I think it's enough to have players kick at a goal without making them into a foosball team themselves.

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This game may not require horizontal movement, saving some complexity. This is especially true if passing between players is part of the challenge.

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I like that the player positions and movement reflects the design of a foosball table. To make sure they actually strap in (instead of just kicking the balls from anywhere in the room), one option would be to include sensors in the rigid back of the positions such that the balls are only released if the players are strapped in. The design of the straps and rigid back will be important because they will need to fit people of different heights and girths and will also need to be somewhat comfortable.

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I'm not sure if I understood the rod wrapping around the central point, is that supposed to address the fact that the players can move from side to side easily without the rods extending out of the room?

If so, the flexible rod would enable the players to also move forward and backwards?

Perhaps you can just have a single rod connected one wall to another. On that rod, you can add a rigid sleeve that holds the straps for the players. This will allow the sleeve to slide along the rod (side to side motion) and also ensure that the same distance is kept between players.

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I think the use of RFID is overcomplicating the matter a bit, and the capacitative sensor is probably a bit overkill as well. I think you can get away with an IR breakbeam sensor across the goal line (maybe two if the goal is tall). I would probably use a tilt sensor to detect the ball crashing into the back of the goal...but the optical sensor is preferable, because you still want to count very slow goals, where the ball crosses the line but doesn't contact the opposite side.

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It's probably much simpler to have the goal slope to a ball shaped hole that contains a breakbeam sensor than to require a lot of interacting RFID readers. Maybe worth considering, especially if you're already funneling the balls to a return system anyways?

The ball return system itself seems non-trivial to design for long term reliability.

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The goal sensing mechanism is straightforward and definitely feasible. I like that you offered two methods for goal sensing. The length of the goal line / size of the goal opening will directly impact how challenging the game is. User testing will help determine the appropriate length / size to ensure the game is challenging enough but not impossible for the average player.

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This seems reasonable and can be easily implemented. I like how there are two sensors involved to ensure that a goal is sensed properly!

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I like your sketching style and the way you've laid out your website is particularly good. I appreciate the thumbnail images at the top, plus the link back to the storyboard. Well done.

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This idea was presented clearly and compellingly. Good job.

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I appreciate the clean aesthetic of your site! The storyboard and concept sketches are legible, the font makes me think of soccer / sports, and parts in the concept sketch are labeled. The storyboard has a cool layout, but is there an order you would like the reader to read the panels in? Numbering the panels or adding arrows may help direct the reader. It would be nice to see descriptions of how the game is designed to be foolproof and safe (see suggestions in review of concept sketches). The concept sketches convey the mechanisms well--the next step could be to add gradient shading and more details such as the rendering sketches we learned in class.

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I really like how the storyboard is presented in a very simple but clear format. The concept sketches are also really on point and addresses the issues that I was thinking of initially.

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