I'm glad to see that you put a lot of thought into how to make the lasers align properly - I think that is going to be the biggest headache in this concept. I think you are going in the right direction with having the towers lock into place on the grid. There are probably alternatives that are better than tying the locking positions directly to the wheels, as you discovered. You may want to think about moving the locking mechanism down to the rail below the floor instead.
Have you tried to lay out the rail system for all the towers in the space? Looking at your storyboard, I'm not clear on which towers will be allowed to move vertically and which horizontally.
Also, do you think a handle is necessary here? I'm not saying it's not - just that you may be able to eliminate some complexity by just having users push on the towers directly.
Tracks in the floor are challenging, as they present trip hazards. This is, unless, the tracks are more like 'knee walls' and that they are things the guest can walk around.
Laying this out into a space in such a way that you can still (hopefully) get a wheelchair around the room will be tricky. We want to make sure mental games like this one are kept ADA accessible, since we will have plenty of physical games that are going to rule out handicap access.
I think providing the guests some kind of feedback as to when they have their tower locked into a position is great. I think your discovery that guests can be stuck 'halfway' demonstrates exactly the value of prototyping.
To solve your 'halfway' problem, you could put a separate wheel (or wheels, one on each side) that run parallel to the wheels that support the rig. It could be a ball detent, also. This may make the movement smoother, and allow you to have one (or two, if there is one on each side) hole to position the tower per position. This would solve the 'halfway' trap.
Your discovery of where the handles should be to best move the rig is great.
You explored many good concepts through this sketch model. I think the way you implemented the 1D restriction is good and makes sense, though you bring up a good point about how it might be more difficult to build. Another way you could do this is to have the tracks go underneath the wheels themselves. These tracks could also go above the ground instead of under (so it's easier to build). I understand that the sensors can be very finicky and sensitive, but I'm not entirely convinced that this is necessary? It also makes the game quite a bit easier as players will realize that they just need to wheel the tower around until they find the slots in the ground. Finally, for the handles, I think this was a good exploration. It would be good to mention if you tested this on people (and how many). One note - it would help to make the tower bottom heavy to prevent tipping and jamming.
I think this is an important thing to explore, and the concept and its constraints were well thought out. I like the idea of having the towers move on tracks so there are a set number of definitive ways to win the room.
A good approach to the how the platforms would move around the room without being dislocated and being able to have them in appropriate areas, making adjustments more accurate.
Looks like a good amount of thought went into this. One thing I would have liked to see is a video of the tower moving along its rails to gauge smoothness and the effect of the different handle positions. Overall, well done.
You've done a phenomenal job building the little test rig, and discovering, addressing, and trying to answer as many of the problems as you could. I'm impressed at how thoughtful you have been in how you put together the positioning rig.
I think the sketch models were well executed with a variety of concepts explored. My main comment would be that you could have tried a couple of different ways the towers would be restricted to 1D, as it is a pretty key function of the towers.
I think the model fit all of the constraints very well. Everything was well thought out and the execution was very well done. Yes, this would make the floor installation more complicated, but it is also a great starting point and you could potentially develop it further into something less complicated but similarly effective. Overall, well done!
Great mechanism to allow for movement of the pieces while also restricting them to the platform. The mechanism to move the platforms from one location to another and have them where needed is designed well as the platform should lock in.
