Preparations

Welcome to another week of my Senior Project Journey!

A lot of things have turned for the worse as I try to conduct my in-person experiment. First off, although my 2022 and 2014 World Cup balls are on track to arrive in a few days, the 2006 and 2010 World Cup balls, both ordered from the same person, never arrived and eBay has since taken down the account. This means that I will need to reorder the World Cup Balls. I have scrapped the 2006 World Cup Ball and placed a new order for the 2010 Jabulani ball. It will arrive in a few weeks so my schedule has changed. 

Over the next few weeks, as I wait for the new order of the soccer ball, I will begin writing the final report and creating part of my presentation detailing the background and motive for the senior project, the principles that go into affecting the ball movement, and the simulation phase and the control constant. So, when I get to finally conduct my in-person experiment some time in mid-April, I will only have to write the report and make the presentation on this part afterward saving time.

Now onto the positives, the trial run I did with a basketball was a major success. I was easily able to measure the spin rate using the airhole on the basketball, able to measure the speed of the ball and modify the camera angles so it could track the position the ball hits the ground in both the X and Y axes. (X is the direction the ball launcher is launching at, Y is perpendicular to X) It took some modifications and trial and error over a few days, but in the end, I am satisfied with the result and I am ready to execute the physical experiment as soon as the ball arrived.

Now, as the preparations have been done, I will be back to write my report after Spring Break as I will be traveling to visit colleges.

Have a great Spring Break and see you in two weeks!