Thomas Mayer, a student from the University of Design Schwäbisch Gmünd in Germany, might have just built the ultimate fanboy tennis table – and it looks amazing.
The Table Tennis Trainer, developed as part of Mayer’s bachelor thesis project, is an interactive ping pong table that tracks the ball in real time to provide data visualisation and help players and trainers step up their game.
To make the gathered data readily available, Mayer has developed a projected mapped interface that displays player statistics directly on the surface of the table.
Additionally, players can use the projection interface to map new obstacles onto the surface of the table and experiment with alternative rules. This means that you can opt to completely change the game play, if ordinary table tennis doesn’t do it for you anymore.
The hi-tech table comes with a nifty interactive dashboard that offers easy access to user data and statistics as well as a selection of pre-loaded training modes and practice routines. The dashboard further features an activity calendar, high-score rankings and a few more user-oriented functionalities.
What makes the Table Tennis Trainer particularly handy is that it will also create and store player profiles, which means you can continuously track and measure your progress.
Powering the table are two Playstation CL-eye cameras to track the movement of the ball, and an HD projector for the real-time visualisations.
Mayer’s project is an excellent example of yet another exciting encounter between the worlds of sport and technology.
Back in 2014, Kuka released a video of a table tennis robot that could beat professionals, but unfortunately the video turned out to be fake.
via Reddit
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