Dad Finds Awesome Way to Turn a 3D Printer Into an Air Hockey Partner for His Daughter

One creative Dad decided to build his daughter a gift, and it turned out so well he decided to share his unique 3D printer air hockey system with the rest of the world.

The Madrid-based engineer used parts of a 3D printer and a Play Station 3 Eye connected to a PC to handle video capture and analysis, and put it all together on a homemade air table.

Jose Julio hacked 3D printer software to create an air hockey device for his daughter (Image via Jose Julio).

"Everything started when I built my 3D printer," said Jose Julio, the creator. "First, the possibility to design and build my own parts and second, how could I hack the components of a 3D printer to make something different?"

The system uses a computer vision component to see where the puck is, send it back to the opponent, and even set up shots when it loses, reported Tech Crunch. The puck does have to be a special color, so if you are in the mood to build your own set - all those details are available in Julio's build manual.

Julio designed the program to have three settings - attack, defense, and a combination of both. Do you have what it takes to beat this system?

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(H/T: Tech Crunch)

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