Another Bluetooth Question

[Brad McFall]

Does it matter what PowerBall I attach the bluetooth counter to?

Are their any games for BluetoothPowerballs??

I am thinking of starting a company to do this, with this logo:
I have not put this info on my website but it will eventually be on http://aexion.org

[Adrena1in]

Does it matter what PowerBall I attach the bluetooth counter to?

Are their any games for BluetoothPowerballs??

As long as the Powerball has a magnet in the rotor, and can drive a normal counter, then the Bluetooth Counter should work.

As far as I know there are games planned for the counter, but I'm not sure what the latest is with those. I know "Hyper Olympics" type games were mentioned, which would be cool, (especially if it could work over the Net, so anyone around the World could play. I've already had a few ideas about this which I've put to Powerballs.com.)

Tim.

[Brad McFall]

As long as the Powerball has a magnet in the rotor, and can drive a normal counter, then the Bluetooth Counter should work.

Thanks for your resonse Adrena1in!

While searching the web, you seem to be the most outspoken person on the issue of games. I read what you said here:

http://edcforums.com/index.php?topic=5924.msg95615

“I've got a Bluetooth Counter. It's in its early stages, so not quite up to scratch yet, but it's a great concept. The counter itself is quite big...protrudes twice as much as a normal counter, but it's got far more rounded edges. The software is the main let-down, but again, it's in its early stages. It measures top speed accurately enough, and has functions for 30, 60 and 90s, showing the speed as you go and plotting it on a nice graph. Just needs some tweaks really. (I could do some screenshots, or a video, if anyone's interested?)

What I'm really, really, really, really, really, REALLY, really looking forward to is game-software. There's talk of Hyper-Olympics style arcade games, where your character is powered by the Powerball. I have visions that some time down the line there'll be a Powerball Olympics, on-line, with people…”

I understand that the Bluetooth counter uses reed switches to register the rpm, so maybe I was just not looking hard enough but I did not see the PowerBalls being advertised as to whether they have the added magnets or not. If it is true that the older non-Bluetooth counters also use the reed switches I guess then all one needs to do, in my case, is to purchase, a PowerBall with the non-Bluetooth counter? Have I got that correct??

On the other issue of gaming with the Bluetooth, I plan on getting the resources to program with virtual COM ports, but what seems to me to be needed, on the hardware side, is a magnet perpendicular to the one that registers the rotations on the spin axis, i.e. one that can register motions (of the axle in the groove) depicted with the red arrow below as well as the white one, which rather is what both counters now do.



As far as I can see PowerBall gaming will require the ball to take on a lot more stress than that acquired when attempting to break speed records alone. Heyda’s analysis in AM. J. PHYS. 70 (10), October 2002, “Roller ball dynamics revisited” stated that the “aiding and hindering” of motion around the groove may facilitate “homing in” on ‘synchronism’ (between wrist motion and rotor revolution). I have not used a PowerBall in a couple of years but it seems to me that this sliding and rolling action will be critical in programming games where participants compete.

[Adrena1in]

...what seems to me to be needed, on the hardware side, is a magnet perpendicular to the one that registers the rotations on the spin axis, i.e. one that can register motions (of the axle in the groove) depicted with the red arrow below as well as the white one

I'm not quite sure why you think that to be honest. When the Powerball is spinning at top speed, the number of rotations of the rotor is roughly 30-times greater than the number of revolutions the rotor makes about its secondary axis, (as indicated by the red arrow in that diagram.) These figures are pretty constant.

What would be the point in counting the rotations about the secondary axis?

Tim.

[LTLFTC]

I guess you could have ed tech and gripper olympics if that was the case.
I don't know much about these things but if you started edinng and stopped the secondary axis it may add another dimension

[Brad McFall]

I'm not quite sure why you think that to be honest. When the Powerball is spinning at top speed, the number of rotations of the rotor is roughly 30-times greater than the number of revolutions the rotor makes about its secondary axis, (as indicated by the red arrow in that diagram.) These figures are pretty constant.

What would be the point in counting the rotations about the secondary axis?

Tim.

Although in terms of power, it is a matter of attaining top speeds, in terms of human control it seems to me the PowerBall has higher utility as input to a gaming situation if the ability to change direction in the secondary is correlated with the direction of wrist turning.

What it would mean in terms of game ergonomics is that "winning" a game would not simply be a matter of attaining the faster spin rate and sustaining this for the longest time but depending on the game, negotiating, left and right wrist twists (different directions to the spinning of the secondary even while the spin axis is still turning), thus putting the wrist motion and axis spin rate (synchornism) into different "histories" for the players thus resulting in different game outcomes.

Currently, the magent in the rotor only would not provide this kind of programming environment. I may buy some cheap knockoffs from China and try to fit some magnets perpendicular into them just to see if I can get a different measurable signal but it will require a company like PowerBalls to produce the "real thing".

As for the broader perspective on measureing rotations in the secondary axis, programing TO a 2-D , x,y screen has an implicit Cartesianism abstracted into it. It may be possible that powerballs could become the "killer" application that VRML is losing out to WEB3D Consortium as the turns in the seconary could provide a more natural naviagation mode among VRML nodes (as indicated in the expanding blue cone as opposed to the componet white and red spin arrows in the picture in this thread). I think the PowerBall can actually dimensionalize the internet in ways that are only imagined today.