🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <01bcb9cc$6e157c20$15db2299@default>, John and Dawn Dawson
<user@msn.com> writes
>I am a senior at UNLV and I've been given the problem of targeting a
>basketball hoop.  I am allowed to attach a sensor to the target (hoop) and
>then I must compute the angle and distance from my reference point.  I was
>thinking of using a feedback loop, lasers and phototransistors to compute
>angle and possibly sonar to compute the distance.  
>
>I can attach a electronics to the target.  Is it feasible to use an
>ultrasonic transducer at my point of reference and a reciever at the target
>and then return the info. back to my unit via RF?  
>
>Is there anything out there that will enable my unit to point at some sort
>of beacon at the target?  If so, I can compute the angle as the problem
>includes application at various elevations.
>
>Any Information would be greatly appreciated.  I don't have much money and
>need to approach this as economically as possible.
>
Hi,

For my final year project in Computer Science, at Durham University,
England, I made a stereoscopic imaging system. 

Put simply, it used two video cameras and video capture boards (a little
expensive maybe?) connected to a PC. If you can find the hoop in both
images and know the exact positions of the cameras, it is fairly easy to
computer the exact position (or angle and range) of the target. 

You could attach an Infra-red light to the hoop and perhaps use an IR
filter on the cameras to filter out some of the background sunlight.

Hope this is useful.

                                        Nick