Virtual Batting Nets

Project Title

Virtual Batting Nets

Project Area of Specialization Augmented and Virtual RealityProject Summary

The title of our project is Virtual Batting Nets in which we are integrating both Hardware and software to develop a platform for players where they can practice there batting and can improve their skills.

We will mount a sensor on a physical cricket bat wich will record all of the bats movenment and this data will be used to plot the virtual bat in virtual environment.

We will design virtual training nets which will be interacted by players through VR Headset.

The virtual environment includes virtual bat, pitch and bowler.

The player can select different pitches and bowlers for pratice and can improve accordingly.

Different stats of the player will be generated like shot accuracy, power etc. through which player can look an improve.

Project Objectives

To develop a virtual environment capable of providing same experience as training in nets. Also equipped the players with useful statistics of his performance.

Project Implementation Method

Followig are the implentation details,

Bat Orientation 
When it comes to determining the orientation of an object, aircraft principle axes are generally used which are vertical axis(yaw), transverse axis(pitch) and longitudinal axis(roll)

So, in order to get correct orientation of the bat, we need pitch, roll and yaw 
A 3-axis gyroscope gives rotation in degree/s in all axes but for longer periods of time, due to integration over time, its approximation of orientation drifts away from the original orientation. 
A 3-axis accelerometer gives linear accelerations in m/s2 in all axes. As long as the object is stationary, the only force acting on the body is gravity which produces acceleration due to gravity. This fact can be used to find pitch and roll using the following formulae: 
    pitch = 180 * atan2(accelX, sqrt(accelY*accelY + accelZ*accelZ))/PI; 
    roll = 180 * atan2(accelY, sqrt(accelX*accelX + accelZ*accelZ))/PI; 
  
However, if the object is not stationary, it is difficult to differentiate between linear acceleration and acceleration due to gravity. Even if the object is stationary, we cannot determine yaw since accelerometer sensors are insensitive to rotation about the earth's gravitational field vector. 

So, we have used a complimentary filter to get the best of the both worlds. The complimentary filter takes slow moving signals from accelerometer and fast-moving signals from gyroscope and fuse them. This way, drift from gyroscope and noise from accelerometer is compensated. 
    angle = 0.98*(angle + gyroData*dt) + 0.02*accAngle 

Bat Position 
Theoretically bat’s position can be determined by double integrating the sensor values from accelerometer, but it accumulates errors in the measurements, so the results are never accurate. With accelerometer and gyroscope, some other hardware such as magnetometer, GPS or optical tracking is required to correctly track the position of bat along with some type of filter such as a Kalman filter. This part of project is still ongoing.

Sensors: 
In order to correctly track the position and orientation of the bat, some sensors are required to get the real time data of the bat's movements. This work is done by InvenSense MPU-9250 which is a 9-axis Motion Tracking Unit. It incorporates two chips: an MPU-6500 which has a 3-axis accelerometer and a 3-axis gyroscope; and the AK8963 which is a 3-axis magnetometer. 

Microcontroller 
For processing and sending sensor's data, Arduino Uno is used with a Bluetooth module for wireless transmission. 

Software Environment 

Unity3D: Unity is a cross-platform game engine developed by Unity Technologies. It is free unless an annual business revenue of less than $100,000 dollars. With the paid version, there are some additional features such as creating an asset bundle or replacing the standard splash screen. Unity uses JavaScript or C# as its programming language

Benefits of the Project

Batting conditions of every country differ from one another. That causes players difficulties in adopting the environment. Also every player has some weakness and technical issues that make him suffer or uncomfortable, for e.g. our current Pakistani team players are more likely to get out on short balls. So, to overcome this problem, help player to become friendly of the behavior of ball under certain weather conditions and to provide them an easy way to work on their weaknesses. We aim to simulate real world cricket environment using virtual reality.

Player is asked to select a country and ball type he wants to practice. A field map is also shown to player. Player is also shown the reward against the shot. At the end of training, statistics are shown to the player.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

Sensors:

MPU-9250 for bat movement detection

Microcontroller:

Arduino UNO for processing of data received by the sesnors

VR Headset:

Oculus Rift Headser will be used to interact with the virtaul environment

Modes Of Pitches:

Different virtual pitches having different characteristics on which player can practice

Modes Of Bowling:

Different simulations of bowling like fast, spin, bouncers etc can be selected by players and practice it. 

Final Deliverable of the Project HW/SW integrated systemCore Industry ITOther IndustriesCore Technology Augmented & Virtual RealityOther Technologies Artificial Intelligence(AI)Sustainable Development Goals Industry, Innovation and InfrastructureRequired Resources

Item Name	Type	No. of Units	Per Unit Cost (in Rs)	Total (in Rs)
			Total in (Rs)	67525
Arduino UNO	Equipment	2	600	1200
MPU-9250	Equipment	2	600	1200
MPU-6500	Equipment	2	150	300
PCB	Equipment	1	200	200
Wifi Module	Equipment	2	250	500
Arduino Wires	Equipment	5	25	125
Propoals	Miscellaneous	2	100	200
Final Report	Miscellaneous	4	500	2000
Cricket Bat	Equipment	1	800	800
Oculus VR Headset	Equipment	1	61000	61000