Final Project Proposal: Amy

Sensored Sports Ball for Coordination Development

Ideal Project:

http://www.ducksters.com/sports/football/throwing_a_football.php
http://www.thecompletepitcher.com/pitching_grips.htm

 problem
A major problem when it comes to playing sports or learning a new sport, is the constant jamming of the fingers, simple injuries that could be solved with the correct hand-eye coordination development.

solution
This idea could be applicable to any sports ball whether that be football, volleyball, baseball, etc. The ball would be lined with an infrared sensor layer that could create a virtual imprint of an athletes hand placement on the ball. The information would be wirelessly sent to a computer, to allow athletes to easily preview their "imprint". Another aspect of the sensor layer is that it would have a force sensor, and calibrator to calculate the force that the ball hits each finger with or the force that the finger hits the ball with. This information would be sent to the computer, computed through a program, and output directions to athletes to help improve their ball control. Programs will need to be developed with standards for each sport. In order for the program to be successful I would need to gather enough information to create a control which all variable data can be calculated against. I would also want the ball to be able to understand the wind patterns, and the temperature, and use these variables to help improve an athletes adjustment to surroundings.

http://www.imaging1.com/thermal/thermoscope-FLIR.html

application
The output would allow athletes to improve their source of error when it comes to their given sport. It will also allow for less injury to athletes, and gives personalized feedback, when a coach may be focusing on another play. This is applicable for someone who wants to improve their skillsets and learn the right way to play a sport, rather than someone who is playing for fun.

Reality:
I will create a volleyball that will record data of what is happening to it. There are 3 variables that I will track to understand the data I receive. The 3 tracks are: set, spike and serve. I will need to learn Zigbee and I will need to teach myself to pipeline the data I receive from the arduino and send it to Processing to visualize the data.

Things I will need:
-Volleyball
- Zigbee
- Pressure Sensors
-Accelerometer
-MPR121 Capacitive Touch Sensor

Areas to Research:
-sports medicine
-interaction design
-athlete sensor data
-tracking athletic movement