System, method, and motorized sports ball blocking machine for predicting trajectory of and potentially blocking sports ball

Abstract

A system includes a blocking machine having at least one court detection device and at least one robotic blocker simulating human movement relating to a sport. Images captured from the at least one court detection device are utilized for determining a speed, trajectory, and/or position of a sports ball. Based on the determined speed, trajectory, and/or position of the sports ball, rotational and/or translational movement of the robotic blocker simulates a human blocker attempting to block the sports ball.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system, comprising:
 at least one reference fiducial positioned in a field of play for a sport, each of the at least one reference fiducial having a predetermined position in the field of play;   at least one arm;   at least one motor, each of one or more of the at least one motor configured to cause at least one of at least one translational motion movement or at least one rotational motion movement of one or more of the at least one arm;   at least one image sensor, each of one or more of the at least one image sensor configured to capture images of the at least one reference fiducial and a sports ball in motion in the field of play; and   at least one processor, one, some, or all of the at least one processor communicatively coupled to the one or more of the at least one motor and the one or more of the at least one image sensor, one or more of the at least one processor configured to:
 receive at least two of the captured images; 
 for each of the at least two captured images, determine a position of the sports ball at a given time in said captured image relative to the at least one reference fiducial; 
 for each of at least one subset of the determined positions of the sports ball, determine a motion vector indicative of a motion profile of the sports ball between and/or among the determined positions of said subset of the determined positions, wherein said subset includes a first given determined position of the sports ball at a first given time and a second given determined position of the sports ball at a second given time, wherein said motion profile of the sports ball includes a determined velocity of the sports ball between and/or among the determined positions of said subset; 
 based at least on at least one of said one or more determined motion vectors, determine an approximate trajectory of the sports ball in the field of play; and 
 based at least on the determined approximate trajectory of the sports ball, control at least one of the at least one motors to cause at least one of one or more translational motion movements or one or more rotational motion movements of the one or more of the at least one arm so as to at least potentially block the sports ball. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the sport is volleyball, wherein the sports ball is a volleyball, wherein the field of play includes a volleyball net. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: record data associated with a spiker that spiked balls in the field of play during a training session; based at least on the recorded data, determine statistics associated with the spiker during the training session; and output the statistics for presentation to a user and/or the spiker. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one arm is at least two arms, wherein the one or more of the at least one arm is two or more of the at least two arms. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one image sensor is at least two image sensors, wherein the one or more of the at least one image sensor is two or more of the at least two image sensors. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: based at least on the determined approximate trajectory of the sports ball, control the at least one of the at least one motors to cause the one or more translational motion movements of the one or more of the at least one arm so as to at least potentially block the sports ball, wherein the one or more translational motion movements comprises at least one horizontal movement. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: based at least on the determined approximate trajectory of the sports ball, control the at least one of the at least one motors to cause the one or more translational motion movements of the one or more of the at least one arm so as to at least potentially block the sports ball, wherein the one or more translational motion movements comprises at least one vertical movement. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: based at least on the determined approximate trajectory of the sports ball, control the at least one of the at least one motors to cause the one or more translational motion movements of the one or more of the at least one arm so as to at least potentially block the sports ball, wherein the one or more translational motion movements comprises at least one horizontal movement and at least one vertical movement. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: based at least on the determined approximate trajectory of the sports ball, control the at least one of the at least one motors to cause the one or more translational motion movements of the one or more of the at least one arm so as to at least potentially block the sports ball, wherein the one or more translational motion movements comprises at least one horizontal movement, at least one vertical movement, and at least one depth movement. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: based at least on the determined approximate trajectory of the sports ball, control the at least one of the at least one motors to cause the at least one of the one or more translational motion movements and the one or more rotational motion movements of the one or more of the at least one arm so as to at least potentially block the sports ball. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: obtain simulated blocker data associated with attributes of at least one simulated human blocker; and based at least on the determined approximate trajectory of the sports ball and the simulated blocker data, control at least one of the at least one motors to cause at least one of one or more translational motion movements or one or more rotational motion movements of the one or more of the at least one arm. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the attributes of the at least one simulated human blocker include at least one of: at least one blocker reaction time, at least one blocker lateral speed, at least one blocker arm speed, at least one blocker height, at least one blocker arm length, at least one blocker vertical leap attribute, at least one blocker age, at least one blocker skill level, at least one blocker block accuracy, at least one blocker block response consistency, or at least one randomness factor. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the attributes of the at least one simulated human blocker are user-defined. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the at least one simulated human blocker is at least two simulated human blockers of a simulated team, the at least two simulated human blockers of the simulated team corresponding to at least two human blockers of a team. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the attributes of the at least two simulated human blockers of the simulated team are obtained based at least on one or more processors configured to analyze video of at least one volleyball game involving the at least two human blockers of the team and to determine the attributes of the at least two simulated human blockers of the simulated team based at least on the analyzation of the video. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one user-interface device communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, the at least one user-interface device configured to interface with at least one user, wherein the at least one user-interface device comprises at least one of at least one display, at least one microphone, or at least one speaker. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one reference fiducial includes at least one of at least one feature of the field of play or at least one feature applied to the field of play, wherein each of the at least one feature of the field of play or the at least one feature applied to the field of play has the predetermined position. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein each of the one or more of the at least one image sensor is positioned at a known position. 
     
     
         19 . A system, comprising:
 at least one memory; and   at least one processor, at least one of the at least one processor communicatively coupled to the at least one memory, one, some, or all of the at least one processor configured to be communicatively coupled to one or more of at least one motor and one or more of at least one image sensor, wherein each of the one or more of the at least one motor is configured to cause at least one of at least one translational motion movement or at least one rotational motion movement of one or more of at least one arm, wherein each of the one or more of the at least one image sensor is configured to capture images of at least one reference fiducial and a sports ball in motion in a field of play, wherein the at least one reference fiducial is positioned in the field of play for a sport, each of the at least one reference fiducial having a predetermined position in the field of play, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
 receive at least two of the captured images; 
 for each of the at least two captured images, determine a position of the sports ball at a given time in said captured image relative to the at least one reference fiducial; 
 for each of at least one subset of the determined positions of the sports ball, determine a motion vector indicative of a motion profile of the sports ball between and/or among the determined positions of said subset of the determined positions, wherein said subset includes a first given determined position of the sports ball at a first given time and a second given determined position of the sports ball at a second given time, wherein said motion profile of the sports ball includes a determined velocity of the sports ball between and/or among the determined positions of said subset; 
 based at least on at least one of said one or more determined motion vectors, determine an approximate trajectory of the sports ball in the field of play; and 
 based at least on the determined approximate trajectory of the sports ball, control at least one of the at least one motor to cause at least one of one or more translational motion movements or one or more rotational motion movements of the one or more of the at least one arm so as to at least potentially block the sports ball. 
   
     
     
         20 . A method, comprising:
 receiving, by at least one processor, at least two of captured images, wherein at least one of the at least one processor is communicatively coupled to at least one memory, one, some, or all of the at least one processor configured to be communicatively coupled to one or more of at least one motor and one or more of at least one image sensor, wherein each of the one or more of the at least one motor is configured to cause at least one of at least one translational motion movement or at least one rotational motion movement of one or more of at least one arm, wherein each of the one or more of the at least one image sensor is configured to capture images of at least one reference fiducial and a sports ball in motion in a field of play as the captured images, wherein the at least one reference fiducial is positioned in the field of play for a sport, each of the at least one reference fiducial having a predetermined position in the field of play;   for each of the at least two captured images, determining, by the at least one processor, a position of the sports ball at a given time in said captured image relative to the at least one reference fiducial;   for each of at least one subset of the determined positions of the sports ball, determining, by the at least one processor, a motion vector indicative of a motion profile of the sports ball between and/or among the determined positions of said subset of the determined positions, wherein said subset includes a first given determined position of the sports ball at a first given time and a second given determined position of the sports ball at a second given time, wherein said motion profile of the sports ball includes a determined velocity of the sports ball between and/or among the determined positions of said subset;   based at least on at least one of said one or more determined motion vectors, determining, by the at least one processor, an approximate trajectory of the sports ball in the field of play; and   based at least on the determined approximate trajectory of the sports ball, controlling, by the at least one processor, at least one of the at least one motor to cause at least one of one or more translational motion movements or one or more rotational motion movements of the one or more of the at least one arm so as to at least potentially block the sports ball.