Cheat At Cornhole With A Bazillion-Dollar Robot

April 4, 2021 by Bryan Cockfield 19 Comments

While the days of outdoor cookouts may be a few months away for most of us, that certainly leaves plenty of time to prepare for that moment. While some may spend that time perfecting recipies or doing various home improvement projects during their remaining isolation time, others are practicing their skills at the various games played at these events. Specifically, this group from [Dave’s Armory] which have trained a robot that helps play the perfect game of cornhole. (Video, embedded below.)

While the robot in question is an industrial-grade KUKA KR-20 robot with a hefty price tag of $32,000 USD, the software and control system that the group built are fairly accessible for most people. The computer vision is handled by an Nvidia Jetson board, a single-board computer with extra parallel computing abilities, which runs OpenCV. With this setup and a custom hand for holding the corn bags, as well as a decent amount of training, the software is easily able to identify the cornhole board and instruct the robot to play a perfect game.

While we don’t all have expensive industrial robots sitting around in our junk drawer, the use of OpenCV and an accessible computer might make this project a useful introduction to anyone interested in computer vision, and the group made the code public on their GitHub page. OpenCV can be used for a lot of other things besides robotics as well, such as identifying weeds in a field or using a Raspberry Pi for facial recognition.

Continue reading “Cheat At Cornhole With A Bazillion-Dollar Robot” →

Cornhole Boards Play Victory Songs

November 26, 2020 by Kristina Panos 3 Comments

How do you instantly make any game better? By lighting it up and playing at night. We would normally say ‘drinking’, but we’re pretty sure that drinking is already a prerequisite for cornhole — that’s the game where you toss bean bags at holes in angled boards.

[Hardware Unknown] loves cornhole, and was gifted a set of portable, folding boards that light up around the ring for nighttime action. These turned out to be the perfect basis for reactive boards that light up and play sound whenever points are scored. Both boards have a vibration sensor to detect bags hitting the top, and an IR break-beam sensor pair across the hole. An Arduino Nano reads from the sensors and controls an amplifier and a DF Player for sound.

Players get a point and a song for landing a bag on top of the board, and three points and a different song for making it in the hole. We love the Easter egg — anyone who manages to trip both the vibration sensor and the break-beam detector at the same time will be treated to the sound of a flock of honking geese. Check out the build journey after the break.

No good at cornhole? This one doesn’t let you miss.

Continue reading “Cornhole Boards Play Victory Songs” →

Robotic Cornhole Board Does The Electric Slide

July 9, 2020 by Kristina Panos 9 Comments

There’s a reason why bowling lanes have bumpers and golf games have mulligans. Whether you’re learning a new game or sport, or have known for years how to play but still stink at it, everyone can use some help chasing that win. You’ve heard of the can’t-miss dart board and no-brick basketball goal. Well, here comes the robot-assisted game for the rest of us: cornhole.

The game itself deceptively simple-looking — just underhand throw a square wrist rest into a hole near the top of a slightly angled box. You even get a point for landing anywhere on the box! Three points if you make it in the cornhole. In practice, the game not that easy, though, especially if you’ve been drinking (and drinking is encouraged). But hey, it’s safer than horseshoes or lawn darts.

[Michael Rechtin] loves the game but isn’t all that great at it, so he built a robotic version that tracks the incoming bag and moves the hole to help catch it. A web cam mounted just behind the hole takes a ton of pictures and analyzes the frames for changes.

The web cam sends the bag positions it sees along with its predictions to an Arduino, which decides how it will move a pair of motors in response. Down in the cornhole there’s a pair of drawer sliders that act as the lid’s x/y gantry.

We love how low-tech this is compared to some of the other ways it could be done, even though it occasionally messes up. That’s okay — it makes the game more interesting that way. We think you should get 2 points if it lands halfway in the hole. Aim past the break to check out the build video.

Seems like there’s a robotic-assisted piece of sporting equipment for everything these days. If cornhole ain’t your thing, how’d you like to take a couple strokes off your golf game?

Continue reading “Robotic Cornhole Board Does The Electric Slide” →

Can You Bull’s-Eye A Womprat With A Bean Bag?

March 17, 2017 by James Hobson 7 Comments

As it turns out, a simple game of cornhole — aka, bean bag toss — can have some pretty high stakes. If you lose a round playing on this Death Star trench run cornhole table, the Rebel Alliance may pay the price.

Designed and built by [Hyperdynelabs], the table is set up to play a number of audio clips from the movie with accompanying light effects. Details on how it was made are scant, but there are at least three strips of RGBW LEDs — two that run the length of the board and one inside the exhaust port — an Arduino(presumably), and some sort of wireless connectivity to receive commands.

But it’s not just the electronic effects that make this one great. The physical build itself really nails the Death Star trench run look. This is thanks to artful use of greebles — it’s the same technique which can turn a Nissan into a Z-Wing.

When you make a shot worthy of Luke Skywalker, you’re treated to an impressive lightshow and the sound of the Death Star exploding. For a particularly bad turn, you can have the table charge up and make a show of firing back, or taunt the player if their shot goes wide.

Continue reading “Can You Bull’s-Eye A Womprat With A Bean Bag?” →

Summer And Tailgating DIY Projects Roundup

August 10, 2012 by Jeremy Cook 25 Comments

If you live in the Southeastern United States as I do, you’ve probably been enjoying a summer of grilling out and going to the beach or lake. You’re also may be getting ready to enjoy ~~football~~ tailgating season, especially if you attend or live near a college town. Here’s a couple of DIY items that should be welcome at any outdoor event you choose to attend.

How to Make a Cornhole Board:

Although there are no LEDs or an Arduino on this one (we’d love to see your pimped boards in the comments), these instructions should work well for making your basic cornhole set. Of course you can always add some folding legs to it, but they fit together pretty well as is. As for the paint, there are many ways to do this, but check out the pic after the break to see the laser-cut stencil that the Tiger Paw in the first picture was made from. Thanks [Essam]!

PVC Ladder Toss Set:

These instructions should tell you all you need to make your own ladder toss (or whatever less-PC name you decide call it). As for the golf ball “bolas,” you’ll have to figure out how to put a hole in the middle of them. This technique (as seen in a links post earlier) should cover it, but best to be careful that you’re not plunging into a liquid-core ball. Eye protection is recommended.

LED Glow Cubes:

Although not a traditional tailgate item, these glowing solar LED cubes could serve as an alternative to the normal LED path lights. What’s in these instructions is how to simply take the parts source, a solar path light, apart and insert it into a translucent cube. We could see this made with several different colored LEDs and an Arduino for some other cool effects. A logo of your favorite team could be added with a laser cutter or CNC router for tailgate use. Continue reading “Summer And Tailgating DIY Projects Roundup” →