News & Analysis
MEMS-based tennis racquet enhances playing experience
Anne-Francoise Pele
6/1/2012 6:11 AM EDT
PARIS – Motion sensing and gesture recognition company Movea SA and tennis equipment manufacturer Babolat said they have developed a motion sensing enabled racquet to analyze game play and improve performances. The first “Babolat Play & Connect” racquet prototype was demonstrated at the ongoing 2012 French Open tennis tournament in Roland Garros stadium in Paris.
Motion-sensing technologies are enabling a new generation of sports equipment and sportswear that can monitor, analyze, and improve the performance of sports enthusiasts and athletes.
The Play & Connect racquet, Movea and Babolat claimed, is the first MEMS technology enabled racquet with the built-in ability to gather and analyze game data and provide information that could only be manually measured up to now. It uses Movea’s SmartMotion data fusion technology to measure specific elements of a player’s technique.
Babolat Play & Connect racquet
Movea and Babolat noted that the Play & Connect racquet has three key objectives: Inform, improve and share.
Firstly, it aims to inform by enabling measurement and analysis of game play for elements, such as stroke qualification, ball spin, ball position on string bed, power during play, service speed.
Secondly, it is meant to improve by enabling players and instructors to set goals and follow progress on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.
Finally, it interacts because the connected racquet lets players post their game play data on their social networks to encourage themselves, challenge their friends and seek tips and advice from friends, instructors, amateur and professional players.
Babolat Play & Connect racquet - Analyze shots
“The racquet of the future will be the first instance where sensor integration has ever occurred in commercially available tennis equipment,” stated Sam Guilaumé, CEO of Movea. “With Movea’s unique SmartMotion data fusion technology, this innovation will enhance the player’s experience by providing a new and fun way to interact with the game through new tools that analyze and help improve performance.”
Note that Movea told EETimes it could not share visuals on the MEMS technology yet, per its contract with Babolat.
The Babolat Play & Connect racquet is expected to be launched in 2013.
Motion-sensing technologies are enabling a new generation of sports equipment and sportswear that can monitor, analyze, and improve the performance of sports enthusiasts and athletes.
The Play & Connect racquet, Movea and Babolat claimed, is the first MEMS technology enabled racquet with the built-in ability to gather and analyze game data and provide information that could only be manually measured up to now. It uses Movea’s SmartMotion data fusion technology to measure specific elements of a player’s technique.
Babolat Play & Connect racquet
Movea and Babolat noted that the Play & Connect racquet has three key objectives: Inform, improve and share.
Firstly, it aims to inform by enabling measurement and analysis of game play for elements, such as stroke qualification, ball spin, ball position on string bed, power during play, service speed.
Secondly, it is meant to improve by enabling players and instructors to set goals and follow progress on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.
Finally, it interacts because the connected racquet lets players post their game play data on their social networks to encourage themselves, challenge their friends and seek tips and advice from friends, instructors, amateur and professional players.
Babolat Play & Connect racquet - Analyze shots
Babolat Play & Connect racquet - Compare
Babolat Play & Connect racquet - Analyze data
“The racquet of the future will be the first instance where sensor integration has ever occurred in commercially available tennis equipment,” stated Sam Guilaumé, CEO of Movea. “With Movea’s unique SmartMotion data fusion technology, this innovation will enhance the player’s experience by providing a new and fun way to interact with the game through new tools that analyze and help improve performance.”
Note that Movea told EETimes it could not share visuals on the MEMS technology yet, per its contract with Babolat.
The Babolat Play & Connect racquet is expected to be launched in 2013.
Inside tomorrow's racquet with Rafa and Toni Nadal
Click on the image for a video demonstration.
Click on the image for a video demonstration.
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chanj
6/1/2012 11:15 AM EDT
It is a very interesting application area. Facebook will be flooding with tennis playing data. ;)
Sooner or later, the technology will apply to golf and golf ball will be GPS tracked. You'll never lose a golf ball anymore. ;)
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anne-francoise.pele
7/16/2012 11:25 AM EDT
Actually, Movea offers a golf swing analysis solution that is claimed to capture key parameters of your swing and to deliver immediate feedback to your mobile phone, with data measurements such as swing plane, angle, and tempo; Club head speed, angle, and direction; Hook and slice correction; Power, ball speed at impact.
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t.alex
6/1/2012 11:33 AM EDT
Love the idea. Probably inspired by Wii?
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nicolas.mokhoff
6/1/2012 11:45 AM EDT
This is great stuff for athletes and enthusiasts as well as professionals. I just can't help but wonder if sports on "technical steroids" can't but take away fair comparisons of athletes' prowess. Worth watching for that at the upcoming Olympics in London: http://bsr.london.edu/blog/post-79/index.html
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selinz
6/1/2012 7:39 PM EDT
I think this is great for the engineer nerd who almost never plays but he likes analyzing things. I can see several of my coworkers deciding to take up tennis just to play with it!
#IpadLovers
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yalanand
6/2/2012 2:32 AM EDT
Wow, this is amazing technology. I am sure this technology will help the players to imporve the performance tremendously. I wish I could have seen the visuals of the technology as well..
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elctrnx_lyf
6/2/2012 3:43 AM EDT
Definitely quite an innovative stuff. In future more people would spend lot of time analyzing their data rather than the playing actual game.
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t.alex
6/2/2012 8:40 PM EDT
Tennis matches on TV will have some exciting analyses :-)
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Sanjib.Acharya
6/3/2012 11:46 PM EDT
Fascinating idea!! Truly appreciate the Babolat team that came out with this marvelous idea. Although I think I have a little doubt on the idea of "share" for a professional tennis player. Will the key contenders for the major tournaments be ready to share their performance data with others, especially their opponents? ;-)
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agk
6/4/2012 7:43 AM EDT
This will help the trainers and learners. They can fine tune their skills. Especially on the shots power and the shots type. The net result is more number of professional talent generation and lot of thrill to the viewers.
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t.alex
6/8/2012 11:02 PM EDT
Will they put this into the ball?
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