Bowling Displays and Tracking
Keeping up with the pros
Brunswick Bowling & Billiards was developing a new concept in bowling displays called Bowler Vision. This new system was to include a computerized color display of the trajectory, velocity, and position of the bowling ball during a game — a digitally augmented system running alongside the real-life players going for the strike.
The challenge was that previous attempts at using lasers, ultrasonic, sonar, and infrared beams had failed to meet the accuracy, precision, and cost goals of the system.
Solution
In Phase 1, MTSI developed a 4-bit, black and white proof-of-concept system. This design showed that orange-colored bowling balls tended to blend into the wood background of the typical bowling lane — which could become a detection problem. They would be darker than the lane, then lighter as they moved down the lane. Lighting and reflections had to be carefully controlled.
A second design used a different algorithm. A new color-output system was then developed with these results. The phot at left shows how: the B&W photo is of the actual lane, which is an end lane. The detected velocity, distance from the right side in board widths, the angle oat the end, and the terminal velocity were superimposed on a color screen grab. This greatly reduced the price of the system. Software algorithms then detected the orange balls disappearing in the B&W data, and could switch to a different tracking mechanism when located. Automatic calibration routines periodically adjusted the system to the current lane lighting, height, and width by detecting a piece of tape placed at the 45′ mark, and detecting the small flags at the start of the lane.
Impact
Leveraging our experience with bowling tracking technology, MTSI produced hundreds of bowling ball tracker systems while Brunswick set up production lines and test facilities — increasing efficiency and lowering manufacturing costs.
A key portion of the Bowler Vision system became reality.
