Week 1: Computer-aided design!

This week we modeled a final project. One potential idea I have is a tennis serve pole. The idea is a stationary tennis ball hangs from a string fed through a PVC pipe and the player can stand underneath and practice her serve hundreds of times over without having to go pick up tennis balls every 15 minutes. There are sensors on the ball and the racket that take metrics on speed, spin, and motion to help the player optimize her serve technique.

I attempted to CAD this model but discovered that there is quite a learning curve for 2D and 3D modeling, and even more so for making animations and simulations. This is a simple CAD of the model with 3D parts, but no simulation.

Here are some drawings on an iPad, showing a storyboard of what would happen if the user were to hit the ball.