Edge Pong

## Problem

Gaming keeps retreating behind screens and headsets. I wanted a tangible gaming experience — swinging a real paddle at virtual balls and actually feeling the impact in your hand, no VR headset required.

## Solution

A projected ping-pong arena driven by a custom smart paddle. The paddle streams motion data from an ESP32-C5; when you hit a virtual ball, four vibration-motor quadrants encode where on the paddle the ball struck, using bilinear interpolation across motors.

## Features

• Backend (Python) — physics engine with collision detection, rally system, AI opponent, and quaternion-based pose fusion
• Frontend (Three.js + TypeScript) — 3D arena synced over WebSockets at 60 Hz
• Smart paddle (ESP32-C5) — custom firmware streaming motion data, driving four vibration-motor quadrants for spatial haptics

## Tech Stack

## Challenges

• Hardware was the hard part: MOSFET wiring errors, power management, forcing 2.4 GHz networking
• Calibrating vibration-motor sensitivity thresholds so haptics feel right

## Lessons Learned

• Four vibration zones are enough to convey strike location on a paddle
• Quaternion orientation avoids gimbal lock in fast swings
• Responsiveness beats physics accuracy for playability