Every hip, trendy new office seems to have a ping-pong table sequestered in the corner of a break room. Even if that that has become common practice in the contemporary office, this concept from across the pond at SI Digital has changed the way the game is played!
With SI Digital’s over-the-top office ping-pong table, each player has an RFID tag embedded into their personal paddle. When they approach the table, they simply wave their handle over a sensor and their image appears on a nearby LCD screen and a game is ready to commence.
Also, instead of tirelessly arguing over the manually tracked score, the team installed two capacitive touch sensors below the table that allow a quick click to add a point under each player’s image. These capacitive touch sensors, built by Adafruit and powered by the Atmel AT42QT1010 were chosen for their ability to trigger precisely after very slight and effortless touches.
Alongside the table, the innovative team placed an Arduino Pro Mini (ATmega168)-powered RFID reader covered with several LEDs to give visual feedback upon being scanned. The RFID tags provide the ability for games to start instantly and for rivalries to be upheld. The team at SI Digital used Node.js and Socket.io to develop an application that gave them the ability to track their live scoring and lifestime statistics. Game on!
For more information on this new spin on the old school Ping-Pong table, take a look at SI Digital’s project review here.
Atmel | Bits & Pieces 