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Show HN: I replaced a $120k bowling center system with $1,600 in ESP32s

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Re: Show HN: I replaced a $120k bowling center system with $1,600 in ESP32s

#211

Post by red369 »

ryukoposting wrote: post #200
HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #53

Thank you for posting this, it reaffirms what I've been thinking for so long. There are many opportunities to retrofit old systems of all types with modern low-cost embedded technologies. Around 2019 or so I was approached by an engineer who had a small business retrofitting very old machine tools with modern motion controls. Think very large lathes and planers. The problem they had was that in order to get these sys…

I think I see some parallels with the aftermarket for old cars. Holley's entire catalog is "here's a thing that'll modernize your 1960s engine without replacing the whole damn engine" This kind of thing is a low-volume, low-margin business by nature. It's those kinds of businesses that the megalomaniacs of our field tend to ignore. There are people with needs, and money they are willing to exchange for a solution to…

I once expected an aftermarket industry to pop-up to hybridize old cars. Old rear-wheel drive manual cars sound easiest.

Generator attached to the flywheel instead of the starter motor, and then find some way to squeeze a drive motor by the rear diff (probably more complicated, but surely not impossible). I thought something might pop up once companies like Bosch started making generic e-axles for manufacturers to use.

With a small Li-ion battery (and all the usual inverters, etc.), it could work like a manually operated version of the dual-motor Honda hybrid system. Put it into neutral, and whatever energy is in the battery could drive the motor on the rear axle. The engine could automatically kick-in and drive the generator if there's not enough in the battery.

It would never be as economical as a purpose-built hybrid, but old manual cars are often reasonably economical on the open road, and terrible in city traffic. Targeting only the urban fuel consumption would go a long way towards keeping them useable, with the added bonus of making manual shifting optional in stop-go traffic. Small motors would be enough for city speeds, and with a small battery, it sounds cheap to me at least.

I doubt it could ever be a simple kit, but I thought people would have a go.

Re: Show HN: I replaced a $120k bowling center system with $1,600 in ESP32s

#212

Post by baranul »

fragmede wrote: post #180
eru wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect this is where our AI agents will really come to shine: helping people who might have a technical bend but are not programmers do cool things.

Yeah. Anyone who hated writing code but had to, like biologists and chemists, now don't have to.

This is arguably a dangerous fallacy, particularly for anything critical. When the person doesn't know programming, it becomes harder to guide agents and do reviews, leading to overlooking issues and accepting mistakes. This gets amplified for any creative solutions or fixing future problems, where it is something the LLM was not trained on or has limited data about the subject. Plus add how much money spent on tokens.

Maybe a way for non-programmers to better understanding what they are saying, is to think about translation. It's kind of like saying a person doesn't need to know anything about Spanish to now sell LLM translated books from English to Spanish.

Yes, the LLM can do translations for you, and quickly. But, as you don't know Spanish, you won't know how good the translation is. You are less likely to catch all kinds of mistakes, from bad grammar to wrongfully translated idiomatic expressions. The less Spanish that you know, the more likely you are to be impressed or fooled into a false sense of security. Then when native and fluent Spanish speakers read your books, they may rate it as mostly gibberish and nonsense.

Re: Show HN: I replaced a $120k bowling center system with $1,600 in ESP32s

#214

Post by ozim »

ryukoposting wrote: post #200
HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #53

Thank you for posting this, it reaffirms what I've been thinking for so long. There are many opportunities to retrofit old systems of all types with modern low-cost embedded technologies. Around 2019 or so I was approached by an engineer who had a small business retrofitting very old machine tools with modern motion controls. Think very large lathes and planers. The problem they had was that in order to get these sys…

I think I see some parallels with the aftermarket for old cars. Holley's entire catalog is "here's a thing that'll modernize your 1960s engine without replacing the whole damn engine" This kind of thing is a low-volume, low-margin business by nature. It's those kinds of businesses that the megalomaniacs of our field tend to ignore. There are people with needs, and money they are willing to exchange for a solution to…

There is no shame and no business there.

We just read a story of someone who didn’t want to pay market price and went DIY.

There are companies doing bowling alley equipment and you can pay them for maintenance.

Is there a single one of those on F500 list? No and people are running those companies and what OP did … he didn’t want to pay market price.

Well yeah those companies are overpriced if you are software engineer who can wire up and program couple of ESPs have own bowling alley and have free time.

Re: Show HN: I replaced a $120k bowling center system with $1,600 in ESP32s

#216

Post by yobbo »

red369 wrote: post #211
ryukoposting wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think I see some parallels with the aftermarket for old cars. Holley's entire catalog is "here's a thing that'll modernize your 1960s engine without replacing the whole damn engine" This kind of thing is a low-volume, low-margin business by nature. It's those kinds of businesses that the megalomaniacs of our field tend to ignore. There are people with needs, and money they are willing to exchange for a solution to…

I once expected an aftermarket industry to pop-up to hybridize old cars. Old rear-wheel drive manual cars sound easiest. Generator attached to the flywheel instead of the starter motor, and then find some way to squeeze a drive motor by the rear diff (probably more complicated, but surely not impossible). I thought something might pop up once companies like Bosch started making generic e-axles for manufacturers to us…

Stuff like this exists for bicycles. For mopeds and motorcycles there are electrification kits.

It should be possible to just replace the flywheel altogether with a generator/motor that both brakes and powers during each cycle, cancelling vibrations. Then more generation during deceleration, and more power during acceleration.

Re: Show HN: I replaced a $120k bowling center system with $1,600 in ESP32s

#217

Post by TylerE »

robocat wrote: post #78
section33 wrote: post #2

Right now I'm working on adding LED + DMX DJ light control - I kinda want to be able to order LED strips to "chase" a ball as it goes down the lane or back up the return. I plan on triggering laser-light shows and such with the DMX controller. Eventually, I want to allow a customer walk up to the lane, tap to pay and start bowling immediately, too. Kiosk-ize bowling alleys, yknow? I'm pumped. So much room for activit…

Hopefully you can synch the light flashes to the ball rotation: 1: maybe make the ball look like it isn't rolling - or even backspinning 2: perhaps it could you make the amount of side-spin or other spin more obvious to help learning Maybe hard to read the ball rotation accurately: even if the ball was marked with dots or bands that help?

That sounds quite hazardous to anyone who happens to be epileptic.

Re: Show HN: I replaced a $120k bowling center system with $1,600 in ESP32s

#218

Post by Suppafly »

cco wrote: post #187
msisk6 wrote: post #131

I grew up behind the bowling machines. My dad was a bowling machine mechanic and worked on machines all around the midwest. He often moon-lite as the on-duty mechanic during league nights and I'd go with him. Mostly he worked at the local 16-lane alley with ancient AMF machines. The logic was all relays in a "chassis" on each machine. Relays would fail, pins and balls would end up where they're not supposed to be, fo…

> Most of the operating profit back then came from alcohol sales and that's a totally different business. I think this is typical of a lot of similar-ish businesses. Restaurants, bowling alleys, movie theaters, all run on high margin alcohol (or concessions) and make very little profit on the primary business.

yeah, even gas stations mostly make their money off of other stuff. if anything it's a little weird for a business to make their money off their primary business model.

Re: Show HN: I replaced a $120k bowling center system with $1,600 in ESP32s

#219

Post by TylerE »

dev_tty01 wrote: post #206
bluGill wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Socks with no shoes are good enough for amateurs. Maybe even better than the worst bowling shoes. I'm not sure where the level of shoes matters is crossed, but socks gets that a lot farther than street shoes.

Don’t drop the ball on your toes! It happens...

A little bit of leather isn't really gonna help much there either.
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