My Very Own Squash Machine

By Shearer Xi '18

I have maintained my enthusiasm for playing squash for ten years. I am always trying to improve my comprehension of the essence of squash. I’ve done so by watching the top fifteen videos from 2010, and eventually figured out that predicting the landing point of a ball 0.1 seconds before it strikes an opponent’s racket is a necessary ability to strengthen your defense. However, if somehow an automated player could fire the balls randomly to places on the court, I wouldn’t need a human for practice. It was then that the old machine at my local squash club came to my attention. It used two soft wheels to squeeze balls out at high speed, but the balls only went in one direction. Considering the fact that buying a new and multi-direction machine is too expensive, I chose to redesign the old machine, using my previous experience transforming air-conditioners and drone models.

A successful ball machine required a cutting-edged coding technique, which surpassed the knowledge I possessed. I realized having the strength to give up on the wrong direction symbolizes wisdom. Also, giving up doesn’t always mean final failure; rather it pushed me closer to success.

Sometimes, miracles will occur in life if we persist. I remembered that I used to rebuild original toys by taking off legs and heads and attaching some fly-cutter models to those parts. Why couldn’t I do the same thing with this squash machine? So, I utilized mechanical physics principles to enable the machine to serve balls randomly instead of using computer chips to control it. I took off the machine’s bottom four wheels to decrease its mass, and rebuilt it in this way: A support bracket was installed at the base of the machine, and a step motor functioned to move the bracket randomly instead of horizontally. This random motion indirectly drove the serving angles, causing them to change. The rotational speed, angle, and direction of the step motor could be controlled by a microcontroller unit.

During my entire summer break, I remained focused on the equipment and many new ideas sporadically came to mind. I gave my creation a name -- Flaring -- which honors its promising function. After two-months of grinding and testing, the transformation was completed. As the machine moved in one direction, a ball was launched in the blink of an eye. It allowed me to practice my skills at predicting the path of the ball before it was out. I predicted with reason and observation rather than guessing. This basically mimicked the opponents’ rackets moving toward the ball. I practiced with this machine for almost a month, and my ability to predict my opponents’ racket movements improved significantly. The effect was exactly the same as what could be accomplished with expensive, computer-controlled system, but was only one tenth of its price.

I hope the transformation will result in its popularization within the squash market. This would enable more people to access a high-quality tool for training because the cost is very affordable. I feel pride in being able to contribute some of my knowledge to society. My dream to be a bionic equipment engineer marches on: Flaring is only the first generation that serves balls; the second generation might display information about accurate techniques; the third generation will perhaps even catch balls automatically.