Laser Pong

[Tek465]

Found this new take on an old game. Complete with code and schematics. (Could be interesting to mount up high and project on a volleyball or tennis court for a game of laser tennis.)


Wall of Pong

Wall of Pong is a fast-moving, interactive, laser-based pong game playable on any flat surface.

The system uses a digitally controlled laser projection platform to draw a pong ball onto any flat surface. This allows for a large playing area that can be set up almost anywhere. Hand held paddles with embedded sensors are given to each player. The real life paddles increases the interactivity of the game and makes it an enjoyable and dynamic derivative of the original PONG arcade game.

This project was a five week design lab for ECE 476 at Cornell University. Video of the final demonstration is available in the Results section.

 

[dr_lava]

now I want to build one, thanks for yet another project..

pretty cool concept, although the mechanical realization limits the speed of play of this game, and probably the MTTF. a direct or belt driven mirror by a pair of small-step motors might be quieter, quicker, and more reliable. Similarly, if it's always played on a white wall, the players could wear black gloves and a sensor telescope directly next to the laser could measure back-reflection and provide 'paddle contact' feedback. This would eliminate the awkward paddle holding necessary to expose the photodetectors in the paddles.

 

[ScarabDrowner]

I'd probably make the paddles bigger, perhaps with more sensors as well; with the speed of the "ball" it seemed the paddles were a little small.