Handy-Basket

The basketball will be taped with copper on the black lines so that it covers enough or even the whole ball. The rim in which the basketball will go through is covered with LED’s so that when the ball is shot into the hoop, the LED lights will light up. The nylon/chain net of the basketball hoop is covered with copper tape at the bottom so that ball will always touch the copper tape when it is shot into the net.

Material List:

- Basketball hoop

- Basketball

- Copper tape

- Nylon net

- Ladder

- Makey Makey

- Crocodile Clip Wires

- Conductive wires

- Tape

- Scissors

Diagram:

I decided to get the most difficult tasks out of the way first. In my opinion, I found programming the sounds the hardest part of this project. For all programming and sounds, I found out was best to use the programming site known as ‘Scratch’. For the sounds, I decided to use recordings as well as the sounds already available on Scratch.

After recording and collecting the sounds, I then started to program the sounds so that when the circuit is finished, one of the sounds is then output. I then programmed this so that each time the circuit is finished, it can play different sounds in a random order. With the help of the operations available on Scratch, I made a program such that plays one of three sounds randomly whenever the ball goes through and finishes the circuit. My program is displayed below:

With the programming done, I could finally start working on the hardware and the physical things required for the project. One important object required for the project was the ball with the conductive tape around it. To do this, I brought a ball from home and used copper tape around the ball lines on the basketball. This is so that the ball looks aesthetically pleasing to the user.

The second object that needed to be taped was the net. Before taping, I wanted to come up with a way of placing tape in the net without using too much. To do this, I only used copper tape at the bottom of the net so that when the ball goes in it, the ball will have to touch the other two pieces of tape causing the circuit to be finished therefore outputting the sound. I tested this net on a garbage can and placed the ball through the hoop and I was successful.

After getting the net taped, I decided to connect all of the wires that connect the net from the basket to the computer. One of the things I needed to take into account while connecting the wires is trying to make it as invisible as possible so that the user thinks of this basketball hoop as just one of the ordinary basketball hoops around the school. To do this, I decided to use wires that would be taped onto the backboard and the wall and runs to the ground until a computer can be connected to it. The red wires would run from one side of the net and the black wires would run from the other side. As soon as the ball is shot through the net, the copper on the ball would finish the circuit and cause the computer to make a sound. This will be controlled using a ‘Makey-Makey’ that interprets the full circuit as the pressing of a button causing the sound to play.

Since my program and my physical objects were working, I decided that it was the right time to fit the net onto a hoop. I used a ladder to get to the hoop and remove the old net and place my net onto the hooks of the hoop. I connected the wires and connected my computer. I tried shooting the ball into the hoop and seeing if the sound is outputted but the sound did not play. I then realised that I had placed the net inside out meaning the tape was on the outside of the net and not the inside. I then decided to remove the tape and instead make use of metallic wires. Not only were they also conductive but they were also easy to put through the net. I could also replace the wires I used to connect the tape to the makey makey using this wire as well. This metallic wire also was much thinner and much less visible meaning people might not be able to notice the wires which is was one of my goals throughout this project.

After I had found a much better and much more practical solution, I decided to test the final thing out since it would be useless if my new solution did not work. I made sure the hoop was large enough for the ball to be shot through by using my hands to expand the circumference of the bottom of the net. I shot it through and it worked! I was successful and I had achieved my goal.

Now that my project was up and running, I needed to make several adjustments so that it can look presentable and a bit more professional during the art show when I would I have to present this to others. Going back to my main goal, I want to make this project seem like this basketball hoop is just any ordinary basketball hoop, then when the user shoots, I want them to be surprised by the outcome. One thing that I have already done to make me come close to this goal is by using thin metallic wires instead of copper tape that I previously tried to use. By using this, it almost seems invisible from a long distance allowing the users to be surprised when the sound is outputted.

Now that I had started to improve the appearance of my project, I had to make sure that the user would not be able to see the wires hanging from the net. Since this basketball hoop is infront of a wall, I decided to tape the wire along it. This allows the least visible amount of wire to be shown which is one large step closer to achieving my goal. Due to how the wall I was sticking the wire on was quite rough, I had to use a special type of tape that almost seals the wire onto the wall.

One major problem I had was the fact the computer was easy to see by the user and was vulnerable to the ball hitting it and being shot. To avoid this, I had taped the wires in such a way that there was enough reach a large window sill that the user would not be able to see. Using this window sill, I could use this as the primary location for my computer where the user would not be able to see. This means the user would not be able to try to figure out how my project was able to function which was part of my goal during this project. However, with doing this, another problem arose of not being able to hear it from such a long distance away. To fix this, I introduced a speaker into my project allowing the user to be able to hear it from a long distance right after making the shot.

After finishing the final touches with the appearance, I gave the project another try to see if any of the adjustments I had made caused it to not function. Luckily, the project did work as shown in the video. However, the metallic wires were quite close together meaning that even when the ball hit the rim but not go in, the vibrations would cause the wires to touch and output the sound. To fix this, I taped around most of the wire to avoid the metallic surfaces to touch and cause the sound to output. With this done, the project was finally done!