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A pool table that can automatically reset the position of the balls to any previously played position, with pinpoint accuracy, thereby allowing you to exactly replay a game from any point whether it just be back to the last shot or back 20 shots.
Using a combination of a ceiling mounted robot (similar
to the type used in factories to pickup and stack things like biscuits or other foodstuffs), a computer vision system to track the exact position on the table of the balls.
This table would not only allow you to practice shots knowing that the balls are always exactly where they were for the first shot, but would let you step back a few shots to see if a different shot/ball selection would have resulted in a better result.
By combining 2 such tables in different locations you could play a match against someone many miles away. After each shot the un-played table would rearrange the balls to match the table on which the shot was actually played and vice versa.
It might even be possible to download ball positions from professional matches and recreate any point in the match to see if you could clear up from that point.
And there you have my first ever half-baked idea.
If it can pick up biscuits, balls should be no problem
http://www.ferret.c...icker-robot-n665861
Ball picker [seanchk, Apr 16 2010]
Deep Green
http://rcvlab.ece.q...DeepGreen/main.html
[Dub, Apr 16 2010]
http://www.instruct...tomated-Pool-Table/
like this? [xenzag, Apr 17 2010]
Silent Running's Future Pool
http://monsterhunte...o.com/Monster2.html
(Second picture, halfway down article) [Dub, Apr 18 2010]
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<metacomment>
[anno-marked-for- subsequent- updating] |
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Let the record show that this idea acheived +6 buns before anyone commented on it, and it is a first posting. |
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Further, 17 buns, no fishbones. |
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Nice. Deserves one of [krelnik's] WTAGIPBAN tags,
even though he's not here. |
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Welcome to the HB. Rack 'em. |
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Any gut feelings on the choice of ball manipulation? Mechanical (less aesthetically pleasing) or a secret magnet in the balls and a magnetic 'plotter' under the table (may eb tricky if multiple balls together)? |
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I think Bender dressed in a tux would do the job nicely, both mechanically and aesthetically. |
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I love the idea of playing pool remotely with a friend. |
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I have gut feelings regarding ball manipulation, but this crowd is a little too sensitive for that. I'm all for the Bender idea as a substitute. |
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For a first idea (and even for a second or third), this is
excellent. [+] |
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// gut feelings regarding ball manipulation // |
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What you do in the privacy of your own (or someone else's) home should not necessarily be aired in this forum. |
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Unless, of course, it's sick, evil, deviant, perverted, salacious, and deeply wrong and disturbing, in which case, carry on (with illustrations if possible). |
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8th I can be evil, deviant, perverted, salacious, and deeply wrong with the best of them, however I figured my first attempt at bakery should avoid custard, jam and small furry animals. |
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// avoid ... small furry animals. // |
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Post an idea involving kittens and steamrollers. We guarantee you a bun. |
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I'd just like to add a major thanks to you all for the great welcome. My next HB idea involves beans. |
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You'll get more mileage from cats, hammers, custard, pirates and steamrollers. |
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Beans are just, well, vegetables ? |
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(Like most of the rest of the HB residents) |
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You could also, probably, have such a system set up
challenging situations from pool tournaments or
projectile puzzles that other people have composed.
[+] |
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This is a great idea. But, in my opinion, this function would
be better used on a chessboard. |
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But, but, but the balls wouldn't fit, and there are no pockets. |
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I'm pretty certain there's a scene in the movie "Silent Running" which shows one of these. (I can remember small solenoid "cues" setting up the balls on the table) |
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[linky], but not to the film I was thinking of |
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Pull up a chair, [seanchk]. [+] |
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//Silent Running// - I have that on my laptop. And given that I shall be spending the next twelve hours of my Saturday sitting in this control room with nothing to do except watch the Labour conference, I might just have to watch it. |
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Silent Running - Too sad for me to watch right now.
If you get a chance watch Darkstar (Comedy version of Alien), Spaceship (with Patrick McNee), |
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I have Darkstar here too - great film. Never seen Spaceship though - might have to get that. |
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Quite rare. Sort of Alien meets Airplane, only less cerebral. It had a cult following (4-5 members) when I was in college.
1983, aka The Creature Wasn't Nice / Naked Space.
The Alien's method of communication's superb. |
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Silent Running... excellent choice. There is some film which features an auto-playing pool table. Not sure if it is Silent Running though. |
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Ah, of course. {Puts his hat on backwards} How could I forget? |
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The usual method is by a combination of joining the French Foreign Legion and excessive alcohol consumption. |
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(+) I may build this. I love the idea of playing someone else remotely. With scaling, I could play on my 9' table against someone else on a 8' table. |
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Suction seems like the best idea for lifting the balls. Exact placement is either thru hardware (an X-Y table) or triangulation. I'd favor the later as it would look better. Probably drop a small suction cup on three wires with a spinning sensor that would detect different IR beacons from transmitters in the corners. |
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I love this idea and I propose a different version. A computer with a camera and a laser pointer should be able to project points on the cloth where the balls should go. You could then place the balls manually. A marker can be used to place the ball pretty accurately. Now all you need is a camera, a laptop, the laserthing and an internet connection and you can play anyone anywhere. This will have a dedicated website and people can also place bets with paypall. Pretty soon this will be available as an app on your phone. Just thinking how to make this cheap and widely available. |
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Nice, [zeno], but wouldn't you get a parallax effect that would skew the ball positions since you can't place the ball on a dot projected at an angle. I think you could project circles of appropriate size and then check that the balls are inside the circle. Or compute the contact spot and then project a cross-hair for placement. |
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Yes, I thought of that. You can place a marker like the ones the snooker referees use (modified slightly) and then put the ball in place. |
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[zeno], [21Q], if the laer designator is positioned centrally above the table - a small device like a laser "crab" used in a disco - then it could project a computer-cotrolled cone of laser light onto the surface. This would actually become an ellipse as the poit of aim moved futher from the exact centre, but the algebra of conic secions is well understood; the player places the ball so that it masks no part of the projected ellipse, and thus is "centred". |
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