The problem with ping pong — as cool as it is — is its complete and utter lack of insane, borderline seizure-inducing visuals. We can all agree on that, right? Well you don’t have to worry anymore; the Pingtime augmented reality table has got that covered.
The setup was developed by Sergiu Doroftei, Bogdan Susma, Ion Cotenescu, and Silviu Badea for a Romanian electronic music and arts festival called “Rokolectiv“, and not only generates ludicrous on-table visuals but also keeps track of whether or not they’re affecting the players’ reaction times. Presumably, the answer is a perpetual and resounding “well duh”.
The technical details are a bit sparse, but we’ve seen similar projects like augmented reality pool that make use of Microsoft’s Kinect to keep a keen electronic eye on the game’s goings on in order to map out the chaos. The process here is probably pretty similar, though a few of the shots at the start of the video suggest that monitoring paddle-movement is a part of it all as well.
Overall, Pingtime is probably more fun to watch than it is to play but let’s face it: for a lot of us ping pong is damn near impossible anyway. We might as well be able to enjoy a light show while getting schooled, right? [Prote.in via Reddit]