My high school's (American) football field is made of turf instead of grass. This fake plastic grass is cheap and easy to maintain, but sometimes its fluorescent color scheme can get a bit taxing on the eyes. As I always say, if you have a field, why not turn it into an interactive art exhibit?

In my dream field, each blade of artificial turf is made so that it can change colors like the skin of a chameleon in response to varying amounts of electrical stimulus. If the amount of voltage were regulated enough, an almost infinite range of color could be available. Each tiny plastic frond has a tiny microprocessor chip underneath it to control its color, and all of the blades are wired to one control board.

The controller can use this board to create stunning displays of flashing and swirling color dancing across the field, to please the spectators. These shows could be used as halftime entertainment during games, or even to add flavor during gameplay. At night, the artificial glass would glow brightly to the oohing and aahing of the stunned crowd.

Every few minutes the time, in digital form, could float across the field. Icons or words (TOUCHDOWN!, etc.) could also be made to appear in the center of the turf.

Another option during games would be to turn on the pressure sensors in the ground, one for each plastic leaf. Depending on the amount of force the turf is hit with, it could change a different color, and fade back to green after a while. It would be wonderful to see the orange footprints of the players trail them as they run down the field. When a single player is taken down, the falling body creates a stain of bright yellow on the field. Major pile-ups would create an area of red on the ground, mottled with yellows and oranges where there was less weight on the turf.

Using heat sensors in the field in the same way would create an equally spectacular effect.

When not in athletic use, the field could be used as a fundraiser by selling tickets to the sold-out nightly light shows.
-- DrWorm, Oct 02 2009

Fiber-Optic http://www.theglobe...s/article746370.ece
Similar. [DrWorm, Oct 03 2009]

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Is your idea related to this idea? [XSarenkaX, Oct 05 2009]

I can't be arsed (LOVE that phrase) to find a link, but something like this was discussed in my local paper recently. I think they were going to use fiberoptics.
-- normzone, Oct 02 2009


I think I know what you're talking about, and I'm posting a link for relevance. Similar but less colorful, I think.
-- DrWorm, Oct 03 2009


The glowing orange footprints will make it easy to make offside decisions (or whatever the American football equivalent is).
-- hippo, Oct 05 2009



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