IR, RFID or Something Else?

Using Arduino Project Guidance
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I am hoping to get a general suggestion as to what type of technology I should use for a game I am working on. From there I can dig up the details on my specific needs.

Basically, it's like a soccer / pinball game for my nephews. It will be on a table or floor, with multiple wireless sensors (size of half a small grapefruit) that must detect when the tagged ball rolls across a line or enters a specific zone, and send that signal to a tablet. Initially, it will probably only have 3 or 4 sensors which can be placed in almost any configuration, but I would like to be able to add on more eventually.

My first thought was IR, however a players hand or foot could break the beam prematurely or shield the ball from detection. Also, I would need separate receivers and transmitters (meaning double the sensors cluttering the play area, and double the circuitry and power supplies).

RFID looks promising but it would need a range out to 3 ft (with possible body parts in the way) and would need to be somewhat directional. UHF (and maybe VHF) RFIDs could handle the range, but price, antenna size and power requirements increased significantly over the less powerful card reader type HF models. (Pricey for me considering multiple sensors would be needed)

I am also unsure if an RFID sensing field can be narrowed to make it directional? And will they detect tags at the higher speeds of a pinball like game?

Are there any other potential technologies out there that I should look into?

Thanks for your time.

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Is that game worth the efforts? Your presentation contains work for a life time using the technics You tell about.
Could You rethink and head for much more natural solutions than high tech?

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You can use metal (containing) balls and inductive sensors (stripes, loops...) for the lines or areas to watch.

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Raspberry Pi and object recognition using OpenCV.

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Railroader, I may be in over my head. lol My intention by just doing a game was that I could start simply and expand complexity and size as I learned. I am obviously still hashing it out, but this is ultimately to help me learn. An initial iteration would likely involve moving ball toward sensor that buzzed randomly and timing reactions. What I described would be further down the road.

I will look into the inductive sensors and Raspberry Pi. Thanks!

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It's a great pleasure when members reach their goals. Your project contains lots of unknown difficulties as well as not so much experience, as I feel.
I wish You good luck but my fear is it will take a long time to finish it. Hopefully there are helpers that are willing to invest their time in supporting You.

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As I understand it you are looking for inexpensive short range position detection.

So are a lot of us. It's difficult to accurately determine if someone is in the room, let alone where in the room.

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