Biometric & Motion measurements

[Marcel Birthelmer]

Hi all,
as a pool billiards afficionado, I've often wandered about exactly
what physical parameters affect the way I play. Sometimes, especially
when under a lot of pressure (tournaments etc.) it's very difficult to
make an otherwise easy shot.

What I'd like to do is assemble some sensors (my thoughts so far:
heart rate, rate of breathing(?), skin conductance) along with an
accelerometer on the back hand or the back of the cue stick and a
pager-like device with two buttons that would let the player indicate
shots that were made or missed.

The idea is to use the biometric data along with the time stamps from
the shots made/missed buttons to form a data set that indicates
clearly how the psychological stress level affects the stroke and the
quality of shooting, and furthermore to see if things like breathing
techniques can help as well. (The stick movement accelerator would be
interesting if it could show that the stroke was not particularly
straight - sometimes, it's not known WHY shots aren't going in, so if
there is unintentional side-to-side motion in the stick while a shot
is being made, that would be a very interesting data point).

Now, this is just an idea so far. What can you suggest in terms of:
- measurement technologies for the various parameters
- what other parameters may be interesting in this context
- processing - centralized or distributed
- connectivity (probably wireless, to make it less obtrusive to the player)
- any pointers to reading materials about any of the relevant topics

Thanks for any ideas also.
- Marcel
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[John Ferrell-5]

Current, state of the art firefighters equip collect this sort of info and
transmit it to a monitoring station for the safety of the firefighter.

John Ferrell  W8CCW

"Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice, and moderation in pursuit of
justice is no virtue."
-Barry Goldwater
"You don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note."
-Doug Floyd

----- Original Message -----
From: "Marcel Birthelmer" <marcel@...>
To: "Microcontroller discussion list - Public." <piclist@...>
Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 11:40 AM
Subject: [EE] Biometric & Motion measurements

> Hi all,
> as a pool billiards afficionado, I've often wandered about exactly
> what physical parameters affect the way I play. Sometimes, especially
> when under a lot of pressure (tournaments etc.) it's very difficult to
> make an otherwise easy shot.
>
> What I'd like to do is assemble some sensors (my thoughts so far:
> heart rate, rate of breathing(?), skin conductance) along with an
> accelerometer on the back hand or the back of the cue stick and a
> pager-like device with two buttons that would let the player indicate
> shots that were made or missed.
>
> The idea is to use the biometric data along with the time stamps from
> the shots made/missed buttons to form a data set that indicates
> clearly how the psychological stress level affects the stroke and the
> quality of shooting, and furthermore to see if things like breathing
> techniques can help as well. (The stick movement accelerator would be
> interesting if it could show that the stroke was not particularly
> straight - sometimes, it's not known WHY shots aren't going in, so if
> there is unintentional side-to-side motion in the stick while a shot
> is being made, that would be a very interesting data point).
>
> Now, this is just an idea so far. What can you suggest in terms of:
> - measurement technologies for the various parameters
> - what other parameters may be interesting in this context
> - processing - centralized or distributed
> - connectivity (probably wireless, to make it less obtrusive to the
> player)
> - any pointers to reading materials about any of the relevant topics
>
> Thanks for any ideas also.
> - Marcel
> --
> http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
> View/change your membership options at
> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist
>

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[Barry Gershenfeld-2]

The pager/buttons may raise suspicion that you're counting cards (or
whatever :)  Use a microphone and then you just differentiate between
"Drat!" and "Yes!"
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