Three years ago, I took up table tennis at my son’s prodding. I’ve since been playing with him at home, with friends at my wife’s church and at the East North Port Table Tennis Club. So I was intrigued when I received an e-mail from Stiga, a global provider of tables, paddles and other equipment, touting a new device that uses sensors to turn “the table tennis table playing surface into a nano-vibration detection field, automatically keeping score so players can focus on the game.”
This is not, strictly speaking, an Internet of Things product. It doesn’t connect to the Internet, though the company could potentially add such a feature to allow league results to be updated automatically. But it is a good example of a dumb product (a table) that has been made smarter through sensors that detect changes in the environment.
I requested and received an evaluation unit from Stiga. The unit is simple to install. You replace your net with a new net containing a sensor, then screw two sensors to the underneath side of the table, in the center of each side. The sensors and net have wires that plug into a device attached to the net. Another wire attaches to a control unit that can be mounted on the edge of the table. The system is powered by four triple-A batteries.
When you press the control panel’s On button, you choose to play to either 11 or 21. Both scores (one is orange, the other blue) show zero and start blinking. When the first player serves, the sensor detects the bounce on each side of the table and subsequent bounces from the ball being returned. If no bounce is detected on one side, the point is awarded to the player who last hit the ball on the table (on the correct side, of course). The system then announces the score.
The system gives you a few seconds to prepare for the next point, after which the score of the person serving blinks, indicating the system is ready for the next point. You can adjust the interval between points.
The SensorScore system, as Stiga calls it, works remarkably well. It even detects balls that nick the edge of the table. What I like most about it is that it detects any ball that hits the net on a serve and calls out that the ball touched the net, so the server can serve again. (As in tennis, any ball that hits the net and lands in is a “let,” and the server must serve again.) Often, players don’t hear the ball hit the net in a noisy club, and there can be disagreements over whether or not the ball actually clipped the tape. The SensorScore system would end such controversies.
The system is not perfect, of course. The sensors cannot tell the difference between a paddle touching the table (say, after a hit) and the ball. In addition, if you toss the ball to your opponent and it lands on the table while the system is anticipating a serve, the sensor will assume that the player made a bad serve and award you the point. But in these cases, you can simply press a button to correct the score.
Overall, the system works well and does what it’s supposed to do. The only slight impact the system has on the game is when balls clip the top of the net. Because of the wire in the tape at that section of the net, some balls that might hit and drop on the other side simply fall back on the striker’s side. But this impact is minor and will not affect club or league games in a significant way. The broadcasting of the score is seen as an advantage in the system, but it would be good to be able to turn that function off while allowing the system to let you know when a serve hits the net. It would also be good to be able to adjust the sound level up when playing in a noisy environment.
The Stiga SenseScore systems has a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $149.99, but sells for $99 on Amazon. That might be a little pricey for folks who play occasionally at home (good nets typically sell for only $50 to $80 apiece), but leagues might find the product attractive, especially if they don’t assign umpires for each game.
The system could eventually be linked to Wi-Fi so scores could automatically be uploaded to the Internet, as well as for record-keeping and analysis purposes. I would also like to see future models include a means—perhaps via an infrared strip—of determining whether a doubles serve is on the correct side of the center line. I play a lot of doubles, and find there are often disputes about whether a serve was in or out.
The bottom line, for me, is that this is a great example of how a company can make its products smarter using sensors, and perhaps generate additional revenue in the process.
Mark Roberti is the founder and editor of RFID Journal. If you would like to comment on this article, click on the link below. To read more of Mark’s opinions, visit the RFID Journal Blog, the Editor’s Note archive or RFID Connect.