Keep your eye on the ball with TruGolf and Intel® RealSense™ Technology

Whether you are an enthusiastic athlete, or looking for new entertainment options, since 1983 TruGolf has been dedicated to providing people with realistic sports simulation. With decades of experience in sports simulation software and hardware, TruGolf is changing the game with their new multisport system, with hardware powered by Intel® RealSense™ Technology.

What it is

The TruGolf E6 interactive sports camera is a standalone tracking system which can be added to any existing golf simulator structure, adding world-class sports arcade games. The system utilizes an Intel RealSense depth camera D435 and is simply mounted to your existing structure. Once mounted, the system is calibrated with an automatic tool, and ready to use.

TruGolf designed this product to provide customers with a seamless and true-to-life translation of their physical sports activity into a virtual environment. The D435 depth camera is used to accurately track the direction, velocity and angle of a wide variety of sports balls and translate that data into the simulator to provide realistic visual feedback and an accurate virtual representation of a player’s input with a variety of sports games. For example, in the video below we can see children playing Zombie Dodgeball. Throwing real balls at the screen, the TruGolf Multisport system is tracking the trajectory of the balls in real time, displaying hit graphics and reactions on the screen.

Children playing Zombie Dodgeball with TruGolf Multisport

How it works

Using the depth camera allows the tracking and analysis of a wide variety of data points within a relatively small physical footprint. The camera can be mounted above and out of the way of the player without losing motion data. For an accurate sports simulation it is important to track such fine movement as the angle in which an object is released, in order to translate it into the virtual environment to represent the curve of a flying disc for example.

Other potential solutions for solving this problem can require the use of multiple nodes and cameras, or require placement in inconvenient locations with a large footprint. TruGolf chose to utilize Intel RealSense technology because they get the same level of coverage and data points as other alternatives, but at a lower cost and far smaller physical footprint. The D435 provides them with the ability to track a wide variety of data points from a single and static location that can be installed and kept out of the way. Additionally, because Intel RealSense stereo depth cameras are active stereo, emitting infrared light to aid in tracking, they work in a variety of lighting situations, including low lighting environments where alternate solutions would require additional lighting. This makes TruGolf Multisport both cooler and more energy efficient.

The accuracy of the system allows players to use it as an excellent practice and training platform in a variety of sports activities while also rewarding good technique, providing an excellent platform for both competition and entertainment. It can track baseballs, soccer balls, foam darts and more, enabling people with an existing TruGolf system to take advantage of this technology to turn it into a complete multi-sport simulator.

Some of the games included in the TruGolf Multisport Package include baseball and soccer