On Thu, 1/14/1993, you wrote:
> I think you'd have to put a transmitter in the puck for your idea about
> net sensors to work.  The tennis sensors work in part because there
> aren't foreign objects, such as sticks, water bottles, players, gloves,
> etc., entering the area around the lines during the service.
 
Well, I wasn't going to spend time on HOW it would work, but since
you brought it up...  the tennis line sensors work because very fine
metallic "filings" are put into the tennis balls.  Apparently, the
filings are not heavy enough to cause any difference in the movement
of the tennis ball.  The line sensors are then able to detect where the
ball hits by sensing the presence of the metal.  (My explanation may
not be completely correct, since I'm going on memory from an article I
read a while back.)
 
Seeing that a puck is a great deal heavier than a tennis ball, the same
idea should hold, without affecting the movement of the puck.
Of course, you are correct in saying that the goal area can be much
more clustered than lines in tennis.  Still, the idea might be worth
investigating.               -- kennyz
 
---
Kenny Zalewski -- Computer Science Department; Intramural Department
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 83 Albright Court, Troy, NY, 12180
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"All the little things you do will end up coming back to you."