Hi community. I am very new to all this, but seeking for people with a good understanding of building motion sensors, for collecting swing data from the golf club.
My thought is to build a dual sensor kit that can be mounted on a golf club to collect data such as club face angle orientation, swing speed, rate of face angle closure and much more.
Each sensor will be mounted at the top and bottom of the golf club shaft.
Through various research I have found that I might be able to use a Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense Rev2 to collect these data. I have also looked into using a using BMI270 Bosch IMU to collect the data.
I know pretty much everything about golf and swing technique, but not so much about building sensors and developing software/hardware.
Any smart people out there who can help me gain more understanding of how to build a prototype of these sensor units? Would be grateful if anyone can assist me.
I am not sure you understand the board you mentioned. If you plan on using the board's sensors, like the six-axis motion sensor, you will need 2 of the boards, as you say, one at the top and one at the bottom. You will also need battery packs or wires connecting both boards to a battery. If the data from the top board is to be coordinated with the bottom board, that means more wires that have to run the length of the golf club, then over to a central computer.
I may be wrong, but my 50+ years of experience with hardware and software tells me this is an extremely advanced project and I am just blindly assuming these boards can do the job.
Start with the board samples and see if it makes any sense to you. You can probably ignore the mems input, but that is the only thing my quick look picked up.
I agree with you, this is something that could also be problematic due to the significant accelerations of a golf club head (I know nothing about that embedded sensors range and precision). And I'm worried about another fact: adding a Nano to the club head means adding some weight to it, and golfers don't like possible "alien" imbalances.
An optical analysis for example using a camera pointed at the golfer during the swing could provide better results without any additional hardware on the club perhaps except for some adhesive markers. Although this solution would require a non-trivial analysis of the images and relative movement, and a processing perhaps not within the reach of an Arduino (but I have never used that Nano 33 Sense so I can't say for sure).
If you watch the pros on the practice Tee, you will see they have either dedicated swing analyzers or tablet-based. As I have never looked at one, my comments are an educated guess (I did attend golf school, where my swing was analyzed). I imagine the devices they use contain a camera since anything attached to the clubs (even adhesive markers) would 'bother' the golfer. It sounds like you are trying to create a competitive product compared to what already exists. Good luck.
Hi @sonofcy ,
Thank you very much for your feedback and thoughts. As mentioned, my knowledge on building these sensors are very limited, so I'm trying to expand my own understanding within this space.
I do certainly agree that it is a very advanced/complex project to build, and a lot of details has to be factored in. My hope is to build two sensors than can communicate wirelessly via Bluetooth LE, as well as sending the data to a cloud environment for further analysis. The sensors will be connected to an IOS App, where the user will be able to access their data, get detailed instruction, and ultimately improve their swing mechanics.
If possible, the two sensors I am trying to make a prototype of should be able measure rotation, accelleration, twist/torgue and swing plane as some of their key data points.
From what I understand and have been told by an engineer friend, an IMU unit such as Bosch BMI270 should be able to deliver all these raw data with precision.
From what I've figured out so far, the sensor devices should contain:
an IMU (such as BMI270)
a low-weight battery
Bluetooth (BLE) sender/receiver unit
a case
a stable mount
Then, from what my research and sparring with engineers has brought me, I'm considering whether the Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense Rev2 might cover some of the needs for building a prototype.
When mentioning board samples, what specifically do you refer to here?
I do know this is quite a complex and ambitious project. I am trying to figure out if it is even possible to build a such thing at a consumer friendly level.
Yeah, pretty much all pro's and elite players today use radar or camera technology such as Trackman or GCQuad. The issue is that such machines cost anywhere from 15-25.000 USD pr. machine. Whilst such ball flight monitors are great (I've used them for years as an elite-level player), they are not accessible for the average golfer for daily use.
Furthermore, they are built to project and provide data on golf ball trajectory. This means they are able to identify a lot of data on ball flight, but ball flight data can "only" tell the user they have a problem at the moment of impact.
If I am able to build this sensor system, I will be able to set the "diagnose" underlying the "problem". By understanding the diagnose, I'll be able to help golf players way more intuitively with improving their golf swing mechanics, ultimately resulting in increased shot distance and reduced shot dispersion.
I hope this makes sense; Ball flight monitors will indicate you have a problem, expressed in numbers most users have difficulties understanding (or symptom). If possible to build, my solution can set the diagnose and solve the problem.
I very much agree in terms of "alien" weight imbalance. For the prototype, the weight is not crucial, but if I manage to build a sellable sensor system as a product, each sensor unit can only weigh between 5-10 grams. Otherwise, I also believe the weight of the sensors will manipulate the feel and performance of the golf club whilst in motion.
The problem (in my humble opinion) is that video/optical analysis will not yield the depth of data on how the golf club swings, and it is not able to identify face angle values to the extend that I believe is necessary. If we can measure club face angle orientation and swing plane orientation throughout the swing, we can set a much clearer "diagnose" of the problems one golf player might have.
My target consumers are ranged everywhere from Pro Tour golfers to PGA instructers, but the main population of users are found from handicap 5-20, where access to (and understanding) of swing mechanics are not affordable via ball flight monitors such as Trackman, GCQuad, etc.).
I hope this makes some sense. Have a good day & thank you!
Board examples are the example sketches provided with the board. Here is a screen grab for the NANO 33 BLE, I can't find any for the Sense 2 but it works the same way. The board samples are right after the Builtin samples..
Unless the BMI270 is a standalone unit, you will need an MCU. I have seen Espressif units as small as 5mm square, but the BLE chip might be a bit bigger. I would aim for a production package 5 to 10 mm a side. Your prototype will likely be 3 or 4 times that unless you do custom PCB builds for each iteration.
Maybe think coin cell for battery, they are as small as hearing aid battery size which would be roughly 5mm x 3mm.
I agree and understand (I last played golf lotta years ago, but just as an amateur with 19 as my lower hc ever), my concern was about the possibility for some "normal" sensors to be able to detect (in terms of sensitivity and resolution) and report (in terms of data communication speed) such kind of an amount of data to an MCU like Arduino (to be correctly processed and stored).
So, I'm sorry I can't give you any useful hint about that project, neither from the hardware side nor for the software. I hope you'll achieve your target soon!
Hi @sonofcy, thank you for your feedback and thoughts. I really appreciate your time and concern to answer details about my project. I will be having a meeting with a engineering company next week where we will discuss possibilites for developing a prototype sensorkit, as well as how to hook it up via wireless communication. Much excited to progress and got more knowledge on how to proceed with the prototype build.
Thank you very much @docdoc. What is your background or profile in this area of work? Really appreciate you interacting with my project. Have a good day!
