Researchers at VTT Information Technology, Finland, have developed a computer system allowing people to play table tennis over Internet or a LAN with real racquets.
Our solution combines the virtues of different approaches for an augmented virtual table tennis game in a computer network system. Natural user interaction is accomplished by real-time marker detection from the camera image. Thus two people at remote locations can play virtual table tennis against each other using real racquets, with no special hardware required other than the web cameras.
The PCs are connected by Internet or LAN network. The cameras are aimed towards the players, who hold in their hands real table tennis racquets. Each racquet has a marker, which enables the racquet’s position (distance and angle) to be computed from the video image.
This video image is then streamed in real time and compressed over the network. This implementation also enables a network audience to view the game.
Here is what sees a player.
And here is what the audience sees.
You can download the CamBall virtual computer game for free.
And if you're interested by technical details, please read the whole article.
Source: Charles Woodward and Petri Honkamaa, ERCIM News No. 52, January 2003
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