Pinball wizards

Sometimes, things just don’t go as planned. 

And in those moments, you may end up learning more than you expected. 

Daniel Gubser ’25 and his teammates tried to build a pinball machine from scratch for their two-semester engineering senior capstone project. 

It was a lot of work — figuring out the forces needed to propel the ball through the playfield, designing the ramps and deciding how much power to feed the pop bumpers that kick the ball away. Every piece had to be sourced from Misumi, the project’s sponsor, to highlight the company’s custom parts. 

And then the students had to build it. 

“When you’re in CAD, everything is idealized,” Gubser said of the computer design software the team used. Turns out CAD didn’t account for the screwdriver needed to put the machine together. “There was no way to assemble it,” he said. 

The four-person team — which included Joanna Riss ’25, Christopher Horan ’25 and Cory Fife — custom-printed 3D parts to get around the assembly issue, just as they solved every other challenge they encountered. But two semesters weren’t enough time to complete a working pinball machine. 

There are many reasons capstone projects don’t get finished — but that doesn't mean they fail. 

Gubser, who graduated with his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering with a robotic systems minor at the end of his capstone course, ticked off a handful of skills learned that are instructive beyond engineering: 

• Juggling one long-term project while also being responsible for smaller projects and the responsibilities of daily life. 
• Making a plan and giving yourself “little victories” as you progress toward your week’s goals. 
• Getting everyone invested in the division of labor and holding one another accountable to deliverables. 

Before the project, Gubser knew none of the students who would become his teammates. He credits UD with creating an environment and attracting students who can come together as strangers with a shared goal and leave as friends. “We still talk on our group chat,” he said, adding that communication may be the most important skill he learned. 

And then there’s the engineering experience students get from the capstone. “You learn all this theory, physical and electrical, that allows you to dive deep into the world,” said Gubser, who is completing his master’s in mechanical engineering at UD. His thesis project is designing the control systems for a lower leg exoskeleton.

As for the pinball machine, the next cohort of capstone students took over the project and completed the game fall semester. It gives Gubser pride to know the game looks a lot like how his team envisioned it, with the ball now shooting through the playfield, ricocheting off of bumpers and amassing points for the player. 

Turns out, everyone’s a winner. 

images by Brigham Fischer