Drone in a ball makes games less predictable

WE HAVE fiddled with the rules of most ball games as much as we can – now it’s time to make the ball itself a whole lot more interesting. Say hello to the HoverBall. Developed by Jun Rekimoto at the University of Tokyo and colleagues, the plastic ball has the ability to hover thanks to a 90-millimetrewide drone embedded inside it. The team says its HoverBall could democratise some sports, allowing the ball to stop or slow down for older people or children, perhaps. At the moment, the ball is controlled remotely, but in the future it could be programmed to follow a particular flight path. In baseball, a HoverBall could allow weaker players who struggle to throw a curve ball, say, to alter the ball’s velocity or change its trajectory. Or it could add an antigravity component to sports, much like the winged “golden snitch” did in the quidditch games in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books. The most likely application of the HoverBall – which has a flight time of 5 minutes – could be as an aid to exercise or rehabilitation. But there is work to be done before we get to have a go: “To design a ball with enough durability against strong physical impact needs more research,” the team told the Augmented Human conference in Kobe, Japan,  on 7 March.  Paul Marks  ■