Three Johns Hopkins engineering undergraduates - two of them starters on the women's basketball team - have designed and built a system that uses sound emitters in the ball and on the backboard to enable blind people to play basketball.
Image: The white box behind the backboard houses a sound emitter that helps the player hear where the shooting target is located. Photo by Will Kirk
"There are people all over the country who are waiting for something like this," said Mike Bullis, business services development manager for Blind Industries and Services of Maryland, a group that aids the visually impaired and sponsored the research project. "There are blind athletes who want an audible ball. And there are school- age children who can benefit from the hand coordination that comes from playing ball. Right now, blind kids can play with a ball, but only if someone is there to find it if it rolls away. "
During a recent demonstration, Bullis, who is blind, was able to catch passes with the adapted ball and sink baskets on two of his three shots.
A tiny, battery-powered sounding device is placed inside this Spalding Infusion basketball in a cavity usually used for an air pump. Photo by Will Kirk
The Johns Hopkins students who devised the system were enrolled in a two-semester engineering design course in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. The project was particularly meaningful for two of the student inventors, Alissa Burkholder and Ashanna Randall. While completing their rigorous engineering studies, the two also played for four years on the Johns Hopkins women's basketball team, a perennial Centennial Conference and NCAA Division III contender. During their senior year, Burkholder, a shooting guard, and Randall, an all-conference small forward, were major contributors to the team's third straight season of 20-plus wins.
Last fall, when they and other students in the design course were asked to rank the project they'd most want to be involved in, Burkholder and Randall, not surprisingly, chose the audible basketball system. "I really liked that it involved basketball and that it was something to help the disabled community," said Burkholder, 22, an engineering mechanics major from Allentown, Pa.
She was assigned to the audible basketball design team with fellow seniors Randall, 22, a mechanical engineering major from Media, Pa., and Steve Garber, 21, a mechanical engineering major from Lugoff, S.C.
In their completed system, a large piezoelectric sound emitter powered by a 9-volt battery and mounted behind the backboard sends out low pulse tones to help players locate their shooting target. A remote control is used to turn it on and off. A smaller sound emitter, embedded in the basketball and powered by five 3-volt button batteries, sends out a higher continuous tone to tell players where the ball is.
Bullis, representing the project's sponsor, cautioned that this prototype system is not perfect. The basketball's sound pitch needs to be lowered for the comfort of players and to avoid echo problems, which would sometimes make it difficult for a blind player to identify the ball's location. Bullis plans to consult a sports equipment maker about modifying the pitch. He also hopes to persuade a company to install the system in other sports items, including soccer balls and volleyballs. "The process is ongoing," he said. "But I think we'll end up with an audible ball that's going to be a huge asset to the blind community."
When the student engineers designed the system, a key hurdle was how to create a cavity in a ball to hold the electronics, while keeping it airtight. "We discovered that it's really hard to put a device inside a ball in a way that wouldn't change its characteristics," Randall said. "Weight was a consideration. If the device was too heavy, the ball wouldn't bounce or roll properly."
In their research, however, the students discovered the Spalding Infusion basketball, which is equipped with a airtight cylinder that houses a small pump. The company provided several Infusion balls for the students to cut open and study. Spalding then provided five additional basketballs that had just the cylinder in them without the pump. That gave the students a small space in which to insert a sounding device and batteries. The opening's small size limited their options and led to a relatively high-pitched sounder. However, the students also came up with an idea for an alternate mini-speaker system that should emit a lower pitch. They provided details on this alternative to the sponsoring organization, for possible future developmental work.
"I don't think it's fully developed, but it's definitely a great start," Randall said.
Burkholder added, "I've been playing basketball so long, and it's something I really enjoy. It's nice to be able to share that with people who wouldn't otherwise be able to play."
With their Johns Hopkins studies completed, Garber and Randall have already lined up research-related jobs. Burkholder will enter a master's degree program in mechanical engineering at Stanford University. The students said the senior design project course was a valuable learning experience. "We learned how to interact with real-world companies," Burkholder said. "We also learned how to work with teammates and to compromise and to get different ideas to mesh."
Added Garber: "I got a taste of what a real engineering job will be like. We had a lot of deadlines to meet and reports to write and revise. But it was cool to get our hands on a real project."
The basketball system for the blind was one of nine Johns Hopkins projects completed this year by undergraduates in the engineering design course. The class is taught by Andrew F. Conn, a Johns Hopkins graduate with more than 30 years of experience in public and private research and development. Each team of three or four students, working within budgets of up to $10,000, had to design a device, purchase or fabricate the parts, and assemble the final product. Corporations, government agencies and nonprofit groups provided the assignments and funding. The course is traditionally a well-received, hands-on engineering experience for Johns Hopkins undergraduates.
Source: Johns Hopkins University
Citation: Engineers devise basketball system for the blind (2005, May 27) retrieved 24 November 2022 from https://phys. org/news/2005-05-basketball.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
Ukari Figgs: Basketball Champion and Mechanical Engineer - Mechanical Engineering
Ukari Figgs is a legend at Purdue University, as the MVP of the 1999 National Champion Women's Basketball team. But she's just as proud of her work as a Mechanical Engineer, which she showcases every day at Toyota Motor Manufacturing in Georgetown, Kentucky.
Trace a path from the tobacco fields of Georgetown, Kentucky; to the engineering classrooms of West Lafayette, Indiana; to a basketball arena in Los Angeles, California; and then finally back to Kentucky, this time at a 7-million-square-foot automotive factory. For Ukari Figgs, this unique path led to an equally unique career.
Miss Fix-It
"I grew up on my grandfather's tobacco farm," Ukari says. "That's what sparked my desire to learn how things worked. I'd watch my grandfather try to fix his tractor or hay baler with whatever tools were in the box." Ukari applied this hands-on love of fixing things to her school work. "The more I studied and learned about math and physics, the more I was drawn to engineering."
At the same time, another interest bubbled up: basketball. She played organized sports as early as age 6, even though there were no girls' teams in her hometown. "My dad and I went up to the table, and they gave me the cheerleading application," she remembers. "I said, 'No, I want to play basketball.' And they said, 'There aren't any girls in the basketball league.' And my dad said, 'There are now!' "
She excelled at the sport -- not only playing against boys, but playing on the varsity high school team by her eighth grade year. As a senior, she was named Kentucky's Miss Basketball, and a high-profile college career seemed a sure thing. But where?
"I chose Purdue, not only because I wanted to win a national championship," she says, "but also because I knew they would allow me to pursue my engineering degree." She also wanted to team up with one of her new classmates, Stephanie White -- Indiana's Miss Basketball and National Player of the Year. "Stephanie and I are like sisters; we're still the best of friends. We both wanted to come to Purdue and win a championship."
Hail Purdue
Early on, those prospects seemed dim. Purdue went through three head coaches during Ukari's tenure. At the same time, Ukari faced the monumental task of going through the rigors of a Mechanical Engineering curriculum, while simultaneously devoting her time to basketball. Her advisors suggested an easier major, but she wasn't deterred. "I knew I could do it," she said.
Inspiration came from an unlikely source. As a sophomore, not yet starring on the basketball team, a Purdue newsletter quoted one of her lifelong dreams of becoming an astronaut. A few months later, a letter arrived at her Owen Hall dorm -- from Neil Armstrong. "He told me that I would have loved the moon, because I could easily slam dunk, backwards with two hands!" The letter is now framed at Ukari's house. "To have the guy who walked on the moon take the time to write me a letter, it was definitely one of the coolest things that happened to me at Purdue."
Everything came together during her senior year, and the Boilermakers soared to a 34-1 record, making it to the 1999 NCAA national championship game. While most of the team focused on basketball that weekend, Ukari had a more pressing concern: "The Final Four was at the end of March, and we had exams in Heat and Mass Transfer. The only option was for an athletic trainer to proctor the exam in the hotel, the day before the national championship. I did my best, and ultimately got a B in the class, so it must not have been too bad. But I joked that the reason I shot 0-for-8 in the first half of the championship game is that I was still worried about my Heat and Mass Transfer exam!"
She certainly recovered in the second half, scoring 18 points after teammate Stephanie White went out with an injury. Purdue beat Duke 62-45, and Ukari was named Final Four MVP. "When the clock was winding down," Ukari recalls, "I looked over at Stephanie, and we just couldn't believe it." The team received a hero's welcome back at Mackey Arena, having won Purdue's first national championship in any sport since 1961. They even travelled to the White House, where Ukari gave a Purdue jersey to president Bill Clinton.
Basketball continued to play a big part in Ukari's life, as she was drafted by the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks. But Ukari had other paths she wanted to pursue. "I never had an engineering co-op or internship experience," she says, "because basketball took up so much of my time. So in the WNBA offseason, Purdue helped me get an internship at Caterpillar in Lafayette, which I did for two years. It's so important for students to get that real-world working experience."
Home Again
She played a few more years in the WNBA, and also dabbled in coaching, before deciding that engineering was what she really wanted to do. And her destination was surprisingly simple: back home.
Toyota Motor Manufacturing of Kentucky (TMMK), located in Ukari's hometown of Georgetown, is an immense complex with more than 7,000 employees. "I'm assistant manager in the production engineering department," she says, "which means I do a little bit of everything." She deals with the parts and the tooling used to manufacture the Camry, Avalon, and Lexus ES, and finds every day to be a new and exciting challenge. "For me, every day I come in, I feel like I'm going to help somebody, whether it's one of my team members, or a customer who gets the car they need. "
It also means exercising many of the skills she learned as a Mechanical Engineering student at Purdue. She remembers: "For every homework, you had to write out the problem, givens, assumptions, analysis, and conclusions -- all on this green engineering paper. But I do the same thing here at Toyota! It drove me crazy at the time, but it's definitely been helpful in problem solving."
Looking back over sports championships and career success, Ukari says she's thankful for the influences in her life from both fields. "Basketball obviously has done some great things for me, including getting me an education. But whatever you do -- whether it's sports, or engineering, or whatever field you select -- a mentor is very important. I have several mentors from Purdue that I still keep in touch with, because you need those people telling you that you can do it."
Special thanks to Toyota: Ashley Chatham, Rick Hesterberg, Dan Nied, and Lisa Yamada | http://toyotageorgetown. com
Peshcherov Ruslan Olegovich Manager, coach of the drafts section Coach-teacher of the basketball section Engineer of the Department of Physical Culture and Sports Personnel of ITMO University
Biography
Publications 15
ITMO repository 6
Official duties
Office work
Preparation of the ITMO University Drafts Team
Organization of training in checkers, chess
Organization and holding of championships and tournaments
ITMO University Drafts League Manager
Education
2011 – ITMO University, bachelor's degree, engineering and technology.
2013 – ITMO University, master’s program in engineering and technology.
Professional activity
Since 2018 – ITMO University, UFKS, clerk.
Professional interests
Cybernetics, programming, checkers.
Awards
2015-2019 – Champion of St. Petersburg in Russian and 100-cell draughts.
2018 – World vice-champion in draughts-64.
2018 – European vice-champion in draughts-64.
2017 - Winner of the Russian Championship in draughts-64.
2015 - International Master of Sports in checkers.
2015 - Winner of the stages of the World Cup in draughts-64.
2012 - Winner of the World Championship in draughts-64.
2011 - Student of the year in St. Petersburg in the nomination "Sport".
2011 - Master of Sports of Russia in checkers.
2011 - Winner of the World Championship in draughts-64.
2011 – Winner of the Northwestern Olympiad in Information Theory.
Parameter interval of remote control systems generated by the error detection mode in the communication channel // Scientific and Technical Journal of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics -2017. - T. 17. - No. 3 (109). - P. 506-513 More details
Study of the features of the trajectories of free motion of a continuous system in the form of a sequential chain of the same type of aperiodic links // Scientific and Technical Journal of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics -2016. - T. 16. - No. 1 (101). - pp. 68-75 Read more
Wunder N.A., Nuya O.S., Peshcherov R.O.
The factor of short-term termination of the normal functioning of the channel environment in the problem of digital remote control // Information technologies in management (ITU-2016): materials of the 9th conference on management problems (St. Petersburg, October 4-6, 2016) -2016. - S. 515-522
Free motion of sequence of similar aperiodic blocks//8th International Congress on Ultra Modern Telecommunications and Control Systems and Workshops (ICUMT), 2016, pp. 7765389 Read more
Capacity of Communication Channel as a Quality Guarantee of Digital Remote Control of Continuous Technical Plant//Advances in Computer Science, 2015, pp. 170-175 More details
Communication channel capacity as a guarantee of the quality of digital remote control of a continuous technical object. Instrumentation -2015. - T. 58. - No. 9. - P. 751-758 More details
Nuya O.S., Peshcherov R.O., Ushakov A.V.
The factor of the hardware environment for transmitting a control signal to an object in the problem of synthesis of discrete systems // Scientific and Technical Journal of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics -2015. - T. 15. - No. 4 (9eight). - P. 685-694 More details
Communication channel as a system factor of possible unattainability of the desired dynamic indicators of a digital remote control system for a continuous technical object // XII All-Russian Conference on Control Problems VSPU-2014 (Moscow, 16-19July 2014) -2014. - С. 7131-7136
Nuiia O.S., Ushakov A., Likholetova E.S., Pescherov R.
Factors of the channel medium, problem of digital remote control of continuous technological resources//Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Circuits, Systems, Communications, Computers and Applications, Florence, November, 22-24, 2014, 2014, pp. 68–72 Read more
Time costs for code distortion correction as a system factor in the task of digital remote "online" control // Proceedings of the conference "Information technologies in management" (ITU-2014) -2014. - P. 501 - 511
Music D.A., Peshcherov R.O., Tertychny V.Yu.
Hereditary model of inertial delay in the problem of optimal control // Izvestia of higher educational institutions. Instrumentation -2013. - T. 56. - No. 4. - P. 27-33 More details
Study of the development of technical systems on the example of temperature sensors // Topical issues in scientific work and educational activities. Collection of scientific papers based on the materials of the International Scientific and Practical Conference (Tambov, January 31, 2013): at 13h. [correspondence conference] -2013. - No. 9. - P. 29-30 More details
Peshcherov R.O.
Bellman optimization of dynamic control systems with aftereffect on a finite interval of time // Collection of Abstracts of the Congress of Young Scientists, Issue 3. Proceedings of Young Scientists, 2012, pp. 159-160
Peshcherov R.O.
Bellman optimization of controlled dynamic control systems with aftereffect on a finite time interval // Collection of theses of reports of the congress of young scientists, Issue 1. Proceedings of young scientists - 2012. - P. 207
Muzyka D.A., Peshcherov R.O., Tertychny V .YU.
Optimal synthesis for dynamic systems with control delay // Scientific and Technical Journal of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics -2012. - No. 5(81). - pp. 58–64 Read more
Publications in the ITMO University repository
Nuya O. S., Peshcherov R. O., Ushakov A. V. INTERVAL OF PARAMETERS OF REMOTE CONTROL SYSTEMS GENERATED BY ERROR DETECTION MODE IN THE COMMUNICATION CHANNEL 109) for 2017
Vunder N. A., Nuya O. S., Peshcherov R. O., Ushakov A. V. MOTIONS OF A CONTINUOUS SYSTEM IN THE FORM OF A SEQUENTIAL CHAIN OF THE SAME TYPE APERIODIC LINKS The article was published in the Scientific and Technical Bulletin of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics in issue 1(101) for 2016
Nuya O. S., Peshcherov R. O., Ushakov A. V., Likholetova E. S. The capacity of the communication channel as a guarantee of the quality of digital distance management of the continuous technical object Article published the news of higher educational institutions “Instrumentation” in the release of 9 (58) for 2015
Nuya O. S., Potchevov R. O., Ushakov A . AT CONTROL TRANSMISSION HARDWARE FACTOR TO THE OBJECT IN THE PROBLEM OF SYNTHESIS OF DISCRETE SYSTEMS The article was published in the Scientific and Technical Bulletin of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics in issue 4(98) for 2015
Muzyka D. A., Peshcherov R. O., Tertychny-Dauri V. Yu HEREDITARY MODEL OF INERTIA DELAY IN THE PROBLEM OF OPTIMAL CONTROL 0010 Muzyka D. A., Peshcherov R. O., Tertychny-Dauri V. Yu. OPTIMAL SYNTHESIS FOR DYNAMIC SYSTEMS WITH CONTROL DELAY 2012
share
How basketball affects human health — Nikita Tyagushev on vc.ru
If you want to improve your health and you can't choose a sport, you should pay attention to basketball. It's a fast paced, addictive game. It will help to train the body physically and strengthen morale.
133 views
Due to intensive running, high jumps and maneuvering movements, the overall development of the human body is ensured: muscles; respiratory, nervous, hormonal, cardiovascular systems; immunity.
Endurance is as important in basketball as the technique of throwing and jumping. This is the body's ability to intensively perform actions without reducing their effectiveness. If the body cannot withstand physical activity throughout the match, even technique will not help here. Endurance also affects the development of coordination of movements and volitional qualities of a person. Regular basketball lessons and individual endurance training will make the body strong: the cardiovascular, respiratory and nervous systems will be strengthened; metabolic processes will accelerate. This will mean that a person will be able to withstand higher loads than before. The body will begin to work smoothly in extreme conditions.
Playing basketball implies the presence of sharp unexpected turns, rapid movement in space, specific throws and jumps. All this contributes to the development of the human vestibular apparatus, it perceives changes in the position of the body in space. A developed vestibular apparatus is useful in the absence of dizziness during sudden movements, seasickness. During basketball lessons, all the muscles of the body are trained, since it includes all the basic exercises for working out the muscles: running, squatting, jumping, turning, throwing. Thus, the muscles will be constantly in good shape.
Basketball lessons have an impact on a person's height due to jumps, which are considered one of the main exercises in basketball. They effectively stretch the spine. Due to this, the growth of a person increases.
Constant physical activity during basketball improves the functioning of the cardiovascular system: the walls of blood vessels are strengthened, pressure normalizes, and constant blood flow throughout the body without stagnation is ensured.
During basketball, the frequency of human respiratory movements increases. It is 50-60 cycles per minute. The volume of oxygen consumed in this case is 120–150 liters. As a result, the lungs gradually expand: their vital capacity increases.
Basketball also has an impact on the development of leadership qualities.
"I really liked that it involved basketball and that it was something to help the disabled community," said Burkholder, 22, an engineering mechanics major from Allentown, Pa.
Bullis plans to consult a sports equipment maker about modifying the pitch. He also hopes to persuade a company to install the system in other sports items, including soccer balls and volleyballs. "The process is ongoing," he said. "But I think we'll end up with an audible ball that's going to be a huge asset to the blind community." 
That gave the students a small space in which to insert a sounding device and batteries. The opening's small size limited their options and led to a relatively high-pitched sounder. However, the students also came up with an idea for an alternate mini-speaker system that should emit a lower pitch. They provided details on this alternative to the sponsoring organization, for possible future developmental work.
"We also learned how to work with teammates and to compromise and to get different ideas to mesh."
org/news/2005-05-basketball.html
But where?
As a sophomore, not yet starring on the basketball team, a Purdue newsletter quoted one of her lifelong dreams of becoming an astronaut. A few months later, a letter arrived at her Owen Hall dorm -- from Neil Armstrong. "He told me that I would have loved the moon, because I could easily slam dunk, backwards with two hands!" The letter is now framed at Ukari's house. "To have the guy who walked on the moon take the time to write me a letter, it was definitely one of the coolest things that happened to me at Purdue."
But I joked that the reason I shot 0-for-8 in the first half of the championship game is that I was still worried about my Heat and Mass Transfer exam!"
So in the WNBA offseason, Purdue helped me get an internship at Caterpillar in Lafayette, which I did for two years. It's so important for students to get that real-world working experience."
"
com
Petersburg, October 4-6, 2016) -2016. - S. 515-522 
751-758 More details 
68–72 Read more 
[correspondence conference] -2013. - No. 9. - P. 29-30 More details 
5(81). - pp. 58–64 Read more 
AT 
During basketball lessons, all the muscles of the body are trained, since it includes all the basic exercises for working out the muscles: running, squatting, jumping, turning, throwing. Thus, the muscles will be constantly in good shape. 
