Pickup Game Starter

The Project

Kids are not active and stay inside all day playing video games because they don't have the money for an organized sports team. A device was built to facilitate pickup games for kids at local parks. The Pickup Game device helps kids have fun and play sports safely with other kids outside for free.

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Team Comments

We were inspired to do this project because we both love to play sports, but whenever we go to a public sports court, there is never anybody there to play with us. Instead, kids stay home and play video games. We thought of ways we could attract kids to the parks to play pick-up games with us.

The Raspberry Pi overheated when we attached our components. We added heat sinks and a PWM fan. This kept our device cool even during a sauna test. We learned most parks do not have power and internet. We used power bricks and cell service for testing but will need a more sustainable solution.

Our biggest priority is to replace our text notifications with existing pickup game apps. We have privacy concerns with taking kids' personal data and we hope that the use of an existing app would alleviate this concern. We need to waterproof our box and find internet and power sources at parks.