Well, here goes!

All in all our group is satisfied with our progress and understanding of the design cycle after this project. We are all too familiar with the idea of designing, building, testing, then redesigning after encountering our many dilemmas. All in all it was educational.

Our prototype, which is more functional apart than it is put together, taught our group the dangers of rapid prototyping. We were under the impression that we had taken all the information we needed from the initial tin can prototype, and as such this would function entirely smoothly.

This was clearly not the case, as we ran into dilemma after dilemma due to poor understanding of our fabrication process. Looking back, it is clear that should we have taken the specifications of the laser and accurately identified the (for lack of a better term) bleed along the edges of each part.

Fortunately for us, this is an acceptable conclusion. The struggles identified above are not ones which will disappear in our engineering careers. There will be more difficult problems and even more frustrating prototypes. Team Ping-Pong Ball Launcher (PPBL) understands that while we may not have a functioning apparatus, we have gained more valuable knowledge of our arduino operations and overall mechanics. We took an idea, made it a design, prototyped, redesigned, and prototyped once more.

Team PPBL is very happy with our achievements, even if they look like a pile of parts with a bad past.