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Bouncing Star Glowing Smart Ball Ushers In the Tron Age of Sports
Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 5:08 AM on August 13, 2008
Forget Beijing—the future of sports is appearing at Siggraph 2008 in LA. This softball-sized Bouncing Star rubber ball has a cluster of full-colour LEDS, an infrared transceiver and an accelerometer under its impact-friendly shell. By combining these components, the ball can create bright interactive games that you play by themselves, or with an interactive display. Here, the floor itself is a screen with the form of a court projected onto it, that responds to the ball's movement.
Forget Beijing—the future of sports is appearing at Siggraph 2008 in LA. This softball-sized Bouncing Star rubber ball has a cluster of full-colour LEDS, an infrared transceiver and an accelerometer under its impact-friendly shell. By combining these components, the ball can create bright interactive games that you play by themselves, or with an interactive display. Here, the floor itself is a screen with the form of a court projected onto it, that responds to the ball's movement.
The game in the video above requires each player to try to hit a projected target on the court with the Bouncing Star. As a player picks up the ball and begins to throw it on the court, the accelerometer in the ball acknowledges motion and transforms the ball's colour. Using infrared, the ball can interact with the digital court; when the ball touches down or races by, the court can display a motion graphic or some other cool visual reaction.
Because of the low light in the video above, the intensity of the balls interaction with the display was not well documented, but the idea of a ball wirelessly interacting with a digital court is pure genius. If the same principals of this Bouncing Star could be integrated into all sports using balls we would have some amazing games to play and to watch. In Tron, the crazy frisbee game was just a program inside of a computer, but this Tron-like tech—designed by engineers at Japan's University of Electro-Communications—could soon happen in real life. You hearing this, Nintendo? [Bouncing Star at Siggraph]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
Hiphopopotamus
Posted 6:00 AM 13/8/08
@mikeyy: Yeah, it did wonders for hockey...
Anyone else remember FOXTRAX? (aka Glowpuck!)
Hiphopopotamus
praevalesco
Posted 5:56 AM 13/8/08
That is the most annoying "futuristic" video I have ever seen. Stop pulling the fake and slam that son of a bitch down on the floor.
praevalesco
James
Posted 5:41 AM 13/8/08
i miss siggraph.
James
Segador
Posted 5:36 AM 13/8/08
LOLZ @Mikeyy. Sadly, even if the ball was glowing, they'd still have to pay me to attend WNBA games.
Segador
SGlick1980
Posted 5:32 AM 13/8/08
Now all we need is four, gigantic, impact resistant screens to make racket-ball interesting. lol
Besides really cool pin-ball machines and toddler toys, what "future sport" is going to pick this technology up?
SGlick1980
aec007
Posted 5:32 AM 13/8/08
WOW !... Pong V3.0
Now, THAT is progress!
aec007
hu_hu_cool
Posted 5:31 AM 13/8/08
They got this backwards. It should be projected on the wall, so u could play a handball like game.
hu_hu_cool
venomous_duck41
Posted 5:30 AM 13/8/08
@mikeyy: lol, but this time try using attractive people!
what kind of display is that on the floor? i cant see that being cost effective to put an enormous display on the ground.
venomous_duck41
reiyaku
Posted 5:27 AM 13/8/08
alright!!! now someone is REALLY using their brains! bring out the BONG and the mushies! and the grass! time to watch and smoke these things OUT!
reiyaku
lldsandsll
Posted 5:24 AM 13/8/08
Yes
-Nintendo
lldsandsll
mikeyy
Posted 5:14 AM 13/8/08
Finally! a technology to make watching people pass a ball back and forth fun to watch.
Someone call the WNBA, we have its savior.
mikeyy
Cultivar
Posted 6:45 AM 13/8/08
Video is severely disappointing. I was expecting some sort of self controlling ball bouncing itself off walls. I get 2 dudes rolling a glowing softball.
Cultivar
CaptEO2000
Posted 6:44 AM 13/8/08
What a total waste of technology.
CaptEO2000
jiffy
Posted 7:16 AM 13/8/08
IMHO if you take the acid needed to be enthralled by this then you can probably get by without the horribly expensive floor.
I remember a glow in the dark slinky being a lot more entertaining than what I just witnessed there.
jiffy
SinAmos
Posted 6:57 AM 13/8/08
I'm seriously unimpressed.
SinAmos
xenoastro
Posted 7:29 AM 13/8/08
are Americans so lazy they need visual effects to throw a ball around :?.
so the Wall-E movie really shows the future ?
xenoastro
NYCJason
Posted 7:52 AM 13/8/08
Do not taunt Super Happy Fun Ball.
[video.google.com]
NYCJason
tehdahl
Posted 11:24 AM 13/8/08
The ball is a lie.
tehdahl
Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity
Posted 11:31 AM 13/8/08
@mikeyy: But they have fundamentals!
Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity
godwhacker
Posted 12:52 PM 13/8/08
@Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity:
reading is fun-de-mental!!!!
no, seriously, this thing sucks, how can it be fun if no one is bleeding?
godwhacker
bpapa9013
Posted 12:57 AM 14/8/08
@xenoastro: No, nerds are, and its not about lazy. It didn't look to me like the people in the video were getting much exercise...
dipshit...
bpapa9013
Neverkilled: The complete series
Posted 2:46 AM 14/8/08
greetings programs!
Neverkilled: The complete series
elislider
Posted 3:50 AM 14/8/08
do not taunt happy fun ball
elislider
tehdahl
Posted 4:45 AM 18/8/08
@elislider:
Whoa. Deja Vu, a la @NYCJason
tehdahl