Digital Sports using the "Bouncing Star"

In this project, we develop a new ball device <Bouncing Star >, which contains infrared and full color LEDs and an acceleration sensor. This ball has the following features:

(1) people can play catch with it in a dark place as the ball itself emits bright light.

(2) the flushing speed and color of the LED lights change depending on the acceleration gained at the moment when the ball is thrown by a player or at the moment of bounding on a floor or a wall. Therefore, the audience can intuitively know how fast the ball is being handled during the game.

(3) the ball contains infrared LEDs; hence, it can be recognized easily by image recognition techniques. The position of the ball are recognized in real time.

Interactive computer graphics are generated as a stage effect during the game according to these data.

Subsequently, we develop a digital sport content “Space Ball” by using <Bouncing Star>.

For more information, please see http://www.kodama.hc.uec.ac.jp/boundingstar/index.html

1. Osamu Izuta, Toshiki Sato, Sachiko Kodama, Hideki Koike, Bouncing Star Project: Design and Development of Augmented Sports Application Using a Ball Including Electronic and Wireless Modules, Proc. on the first Augmented Human International Conference (AH 2010), pp. , 2010.

2. Osamu Izuta, Jun Nakamura, Toshiki Sato, Sachiko Kodama, Hideki Koike, Kentaro Fukuchi, Kaoru Shibasaki, Haruko Mamiya, ``Digital Sports Using the ``Bouncing Star'' Rubber Ball Comprising IR and Full-color LEDs and an Acceleration Sensor'', SIGGRAPH 2008 New Tech Demo, 2008.

3. Osamu Izuta, Jun Nakamura, Toshiki Sato, Sachiko Kodama, Hideki Koike, Kentaro Fukuchi, Kaoru Shibasaki, Haruko Mamiya, Bouncing Star, Laval Virtual 2008 , 2008.