Automatic Scoring System for FabFoos
Designing a sensory system to detect goals in table soccer
The fabfoosbal table aims to be a fully automatic table soccer table, featuring automatic score detection and an interactive scoreboard. To realize this, we have to design sensors to detect and process game events
Sensors
Sensors for detecting objects are cheap and widely available. I chose to use an IR receiver/senders couple; these are cheap, small and have the ability to sent “invisible” information (in wavelengths humans cannot see).
The IR Sender LEDs will be powered with 5V, and the receiver LEDs will be attached to an Arduino microcontroller. In that way, we can detect if there is an object between the sender and the receiver.
The IR Sender LEDs make sure that sensor readings are always high. A passing ball will block the IR light and thus give low sensor readings. By placing the IR send/receive couple underneath the playing field, it becomes more difficult for players to falsify the scoring system, and thus it is more accurate.
The goal sensor modules, are attached on both sides of the fabfoos table.
Each sensor consists of a pair of modules, a sensor and a receiver. If something (like the ball) comes in between, then the microcontroller (the blue board) will register this and will update the score during the soccer match.
