Boyuan(Eric) Xie (boyuanx2, ECE 110)
Alex Darragh (awd2, ECE 120)
Ji Ho “Joe” Han (jihohh2, ECE 110)
Introduction
Statement of Purpose
Majority of U of I students enjoy playing sports together, and lots of them preferred table tennis due to its simplicity and accessibility and its exercising aspect. Students are able to play table tennis in dorm, in recreation center, and lots of other different places in the university – all they need to bring is a paddle and ball to play. However, since table tennis is one of the famous sports in the university, there are lots of students who wants to learn how to play table tennis, yet fail to find the proper place to learn table tennis. Thinking that table tennis depends a lot on one's posture, having a proper data will help players to fix it their skills drastically. However, there isn't a proper way to measure one's performance rather than getting a coach or playing with better players, both of which is unlikely for students who wants table tennis as a way of hobby.
Background Research
There was a tennis racket which used a gyro sensor in order to calculate the speed and direction of swing. However, since table tennis racket has lesser movement than tennis racket, and utilizing gyro sensor to calculate the 3-dimensional trajectory is state-of-the-art technology which requires extreme amount of budget, using the pressure sensor was selected for gathering the data from the match. Using pressure sensor rather than gyro sensor will significantly reduce the cost (will research and cite the value) of the paddle itself, making the paddle more accessible for university students without high income.
Design Details
Block Diagram / Flow Chart
System Overview
Sensors will be attached on the blade of the table tennis racket. The rubber will be attached on the sensor for 2 main reasons – to maintain the feelings of actual table tennis racket. It is crucial to keep the stimulation of the touch of the paddle to maintain the performance when using the paddle. Also, rubber can help preventing the pressure sensor from getting excess amount of force.
Parts
- Pressure/force sensors
- Arduino/Raspberry Pi 3 with wireless connectivity (optional)
- Table tennis blade, ball, and rubber
Computer with usable computer language, which can visualize the data into heat map, installed
Possible Challenges
Sensors must be able to withstand the force, but also delicate enough to recognize all force given on the paddle
- Programming based on the input value
Drawing a live heat map by using Arduino/Raspberry Pi 3
References
1 (Link for Smart tennis racket sensor that you can attach it at the back of racket)
