General : Future tech. for TT

TT players are too cheap. It won't happen unless you find a rich TT player and don't piss him off.

However, I have talked about this with some of the other engineers at work.  Most of us play TT at some level and naturally we are geeks.  We would mount a 6 degree of freedom accelerometer on the back of a paddle.  The accelerometer, micro controller, battery and transmitter would weigh as much as a rubber sheet so one side of the blade would be bare except for the electronics so this test paddle wouldn't be good for actual play.   The bottle neck is getting the data back to a computer where it can be analyzed. Ideally, the 6DOF accelerometer would need to transmit 6 16bit words 10,000 times a second.  This would provided data every 100 micro seconds which is much faster than the high speed videos I have taken. Our industrial motion control products can record 16 channels of data every 250 micro seconds.  4KHz is the minimum sample rate that I would try to achieve.

I know that the accelerometer would be able to sense the impact of the ball even thought the impact is short.  This is why high sample speed is necessary.

I have the resources to make such a device but it wouldn't be cheap. It would cost at least $100K and that is because I already have access to all the tools and people that can make it happen.

I DON'T think this device would ever replace the coach in any way.  It would help the coach point out where the flaws are.   However, there would need to be some training required so the coaches would be able to interpret the data.   I am sure the CNT can have someone make such a device but there is no organized US Team that could do so unless some rich person just decided to make such a device.

Technology is a tool but it still requires someone that knows how to use the tool. All you coaches relax, you won't be replaced by technology. The real problem is training.   I am a geek.  I know the limiting factor in making new technology acceptable is making it so a non-geek can use it. 

My high speed camera has been upgraded to record in color.  I just haven't been motivated to make more videos.  I haven't even played with it since it got upgraded.