one of the hardest parts of racket sports is learning proper swing mechanics, for instance golf, tennis, table tennis. You can hire a coach and spend years and lots of money perfecting a swing.

the hard part is some shots have limited feedback, i.e it's hard to FEEL if you're doing it right due to limited resistance, instead you rely on feedback from a coach adjust your swing, then hopefully lock it in and practice practice practice until it's good.

I suggest a two part technology.

First pro's would wear a high resolution motion capture suit, plus accelerometers on their racket, wrist etc to give detailed information about how their perfect strokes move through time.

next the amateur would wear the same rig, plus some cleverly placed gyroscopes and vibrating motors. During the stroke the computer would compare your wrist angle, racket position etc to the pro player. If it saw that you were twisting your wrist too early or late or what not. It would apply resistance on that axis in the form of gyroscopes and vibration.

That way you could FEEL if your stroke is right or wrong. This could be applied to other activities like driving vehicles etc. anywhere you can study a "good movement" then compare the students sloppy movement and try to nudge them back into a better position.

alternatively you could use one of thoses powered exoskeletons but have it apply resistance instead of assistance.
-- metarinka, Sep 01 2011

State of the art haptic feedback http://www.sensable...om-premium-6dof.htm
Mechanically linked system -- I've used this and been impressed with tasks like scraping a virtual object [cowtamer, Sep 02 2011]

Hand-hacking lets you pluck strings like a musical pro http://www.newscien...-a-musical-pro.html
From "New Scientist" - sending electrical impulses to your muscles to make you play a muical instrument "like a pro". [hippo, Sep 12 2011]

inertial motion capture suits http://www.xsens.com/en/movement-science/
sorta baked already, but no feedback component [metarinka, Sep 17 2011]

Oh it's a racket alright...
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Sep 01 2011


...and don't call me 'sport'.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 01 2011


sounds like a Wii that fights you.
-- bungston, Sep 01 2011


Phew! That was close!
-- Dub, Sep 01 2011


Definite (+). I'm not sure if the Wii can be programmed to give enough feedback -- you'd need a mechanically tracked system adjusted to a larger scale (see link)
-- cowtamer, Sep 02 2011


I think people are fishboning it because golf isn't a racket sport... it's a "club" sport, the point is they both have very complex strokes, with limited feedback during the stroke. This technology would help you to feel a proper stroke better and get it into muscle memory easier
-- metarinka, Sep 02 2011


You get tennis clubs as well you know.
-- pocmloc, Sep 17 2011


has anyone tried using a racket for golf? I wonder how a tensioned string head would do?
-- metarinka, Sep 20 2011


Technically, aren't these all 'stick-and-ball' sports?
-- Alterother, Sep 20 2011



random, halfbakery