July 19, 2005
Camera Driven Table Tennis for Mobile Phones
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has developped a wireless table tennis game called "SymBall" for cameraphones, with what reads very much like motion sensor technology. eFinland reports:
"The SymBall game enables people to play virtual table tennis against each others using mobile camera phones as rackets! The game demonstrates how the integrated cameras are already usable for interaction on mobile phones, with real time performance.
Data communication between the players is handled using Bluetooth, but the implementation would in principle allow for using slower radio links too. As optional features SymBall provides ball speed, racket shape, sounds, etc.
The phone's display shows the virtual table, net, ball and the rackets. Moving or tilting the phone moves the player's virtual racket in the phone's display. The phone's movement is determined by following the location of a colored pattern in the camera image.
Related articles
-- Samsung Sells Motion-Cognitive Phones. The SCH-S310 phone features built-in sensors that enable the device to recognize and translate the movement of the handset
-- Mobile phones to turn into golf clubs and toy guns in Japan - Now subway commuters could get more energetic in Japan through a new motion-sensitive mobile telephone equipped with games that will let people on the move practise their golf swings or shoot up monsters.
-- Cell phone gaming: Shake the Phone . KTF announced January the launch of a Motion Pack service that enables users to play mobile games by shaking the phone, without manipulating a keypad.
-- Japanese Phone Responds to Shakes. Japanese handsets slated to hit stores next month are designed to respond to shakes, tilts and jiggles, without manipulating a keypad.
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