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March 22, 2010
The Mechatronics 2010 Design Symposium is finally upon us! And what a day it was.

There were plenty of interesting projects for everyone to see and experience, and of course, the First Touch Machine (FTM) project was definitely one of the highlights of the symposium!

Thank you to all of our sponsors and supporters, and congratulations to the FTM Team on an impressive showcase at the symposium!

From left to right: Mark G., Thomas C., and Azam J.
Mehdi K. was unavailable during this picture.

March 16, 2010
With the FTM built and currently being tested. There are only a few days left until the Mechatronics 2010 Design Symposium. Final tweaks to the Electrical and Software systems are now being made to enhance the machine’s functionality.

Check out the Soccer ball Final Tests video available on the Media page.

March 9, 2010
The Electrical System is now being finalized and tests being conducted on the Software end. Formulations to understand the overall launching distance and Vision System performance are being developed.

The Vision System components have been manufactured and installed, and final aesthetic/safety additions to the FTM have been made.

The FTM was painted according to Zinedine Zidane’s jersey. Zidane is known for his unmatched First Touch skills and played for France under the jersey number 10.

March 2, 2010
With the player detection software coming along well, several screenshots have been uploaded of the progress so far (see the Media page for the Computer Vision images created with the Vision software).

February 27, 2010
The group has encountered great successes in the electrical and software department as the motors can now be fully controlled through software applications!

Manufacturing of the Loader and Hopper systems are now complete as well, and software testing of the system is now underway - check out the Hopper and Launcher Done video available on the Media page.

February 23, 2010
Major updates to the website including three new design sections have been made.

Manufacturing the base structure and the Launching System is now complete. Testing of the Launching system is underway – see Dragonball Test video available on the Media page.

February 18, 2010
Minor setback today as during testing on the Arduino board, a short circuit was accidentally created and burned out the MCU. Definitely a good learning experience, as we are now being extremely thorough with our preparation before any other circuitry is completed.

Work on Manufacturing the Launching System is underway, with the base structure currently under construction.

February 4, 2010
Parts have finally begun arriving. The Arduino board is here, controllers to arrive shortly, and motors yet to come. The scope of the project has now been modified to only have a single player as a target compared to the original plan of multiple players.

January 14, 2010
New pages and links added.

January 13, 2010
Website banner now added.

January 11, 2010
New website is now up and running. Major website updates are to come.