How to detect impacts from a ball on a hockey stick?

Using Arduino Sensors
1

I'm just a beginner with Arduino and I have to design a hockey kit(so I can't use image tracking) that'll detect everytime a ball has an impact with it.
What sensor should I use?

Considering:

  • There will be vibrations from walking, falling etc too
  • The hockey stick's impacts shouldn't count
  • There will be different forces of impacts.
2

Usama103:
I'm just a beginner with Arduino and I have to design a hockey kit(so I can't use image tracking) that'll detect everytime a ball has an impact with it.
What sensor should I use?

Considering:

  • There will be vibrations from walking, falling etc too
  • The hockey stick's impacts shouldn't count
  • There will be different forces of impacts.

Sorry, but I am only familiar with hard rubber hockey PUCKS. Describe a bit more what you are wanting to do, particularly the "ball".

Paul

3

Standard field hockey balls are hard spherical balls, made of plastic (sometimes over a cork core), and are usually white, although they can be any colour as long as they contrast with the playing surface. The balls have a diameter of 71.3–74.8 mm (2.81–2.94 in) and a mass of 156–163 g (5.5–5.7 oz).

4

Usama103:
Standard field hockey balls are hard spherical balls, made of plastic (sometimes over a cork core), and are usually white, although they can be any colour as long as they contrast with the playing surface. The balls have a diameter of 71.3–74.8 mm (2.81–2.94 in) and a mass of 156–163 g (5.5–5.7 oz).
Field hockey - Wikipedia

Thank you! I have never seen a field hockey game on TV.

Back to your first post, now. Are you looking for a way to modify a ball to put a sensor in it, or looking for a way to modify a hockey stick, or a way to use the sound to analyze forces?

I guess I would record the sound and play the result back on an oscilloscope to see if there was anything indicative of impact.

Paul

5

It's very unclear what you want to do. The title says "How to detect impacts from a ball on a hockey stick?". OK, makes sense. But then you say "The hockey stick's impacts shouldn't count" and now I am confused.

I'd experiment with a piezo disc. These are the same things used for a buzzer but they also output voltage when they are subjected to vibration. They're super cheap and the voltage they output varies with the force.

6

Are you allowed to modify the ball to make it detectable?
If not then you'll need a high speed image recognition system using something more powerful than an Arduino.

Are the electronics supposed to fit inside the hockey stick?

7

Piezo impact sensor will be your best bet.

You will detect more impacts (like sticks hitting the ground) so you may set a threshold: above a certain value it's a ball strike, below a certain value it's something else.

That of course goes wrong when moving a ball gently forward, as you only detect the hard hits, which in turn could also be you hitting someone elses's stick when fighting over the ball.

Now if you could place a strong magnet inside the ball, you may be able to detect that magnet using a hall effect sensor (range may become an issue for this). Then you have the hall effect to detect whether the ball is very close to the stick, and the piezo to record the moment of actual impact. That should cut down seriously on false positives and false negatives.

8

Paul
[/quote]

pert:
It's very unclear what you want to do. The title says "How to detect impacts from a ball on a hockey stick?". OK, makes sense. But then you say "The hockey stick's impacts shouldn't count" and now I am confused.

I'd experiment with a piezo disc. These are the same things used for a buzzer but they also output voltage when they are subjected to vibration. They're super cheap and the voltage they output varies with the force.
https://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/Knock

Agreed, it wasn't phrased as well as it should've. I have to design a kit, so the impacts of the hockey stick or the kit with stuff other than the ball isn't supposed to run the counter.

9

Usama103:
Paul

Agreed, it wasn't phrased as well as it should've. I have to design a kit, so the impacts of the hockey stick or the kit with stuff other than the ball isn't supposed to run the counter.

Even less clear!

Paul

10

What exactly do you want it to do once it detects contact with the ball? Count? Light up? Send a text message to Jackie Chan?
Why is it important not to trigger on hits against other sticks?
Why is it important at all to determine when the stick touched the ball?