The virtual football goal that will end the discussion, goal or no goal?
All you need for a game of football are some jackets placed on the ground and a ball. This project aims to enhance the experience of spontaneous football without compromising the simplicity.
The way football is played changes depending on the equipment, amount of participants and the setting. Only playing with two jackets as a goal is a way different experience than playing with a regular football goal. When playing in this setting, the goal becomes less important and the journey towards the goal more important. Scoring a goal between two jackets is less exciting than seeing a ball hit the net behind a goalkeeper. Only having the horizontal element of a goal limits the style of play and therefore also the experience. The vertical element of a football goal allow players to score goals in more diverse ways.
Goool is an app that allows you to create a virtual football goal, adding an invisible vertical element that can function as a goal, net or grid. This is how it works. To create a goal, you need a smartphone, a football and objects that can function as goalposts. First thing to do is to place the phone so that the objects (goalposts) are within the field of view of the camera. Second step is to take the ball and hold it for 5 seconds above each goalpost. By doing this you create reference points in terms of depth, for the camera. Now the camera can determine if the ball went inside the goal or not, based on how much space (many pixels) the ball take up in the picture frame. The minimum width of the goal needs to be 80 cm for the camera to get enough sense of depth.
The last step is to set the height of the goal, so the camera can determine if the ball went under or over the crossbar. This is done by holding the football in the air at chosen height for 5 seconds. Now you have created a virtual goal. The app will register every time a ball is going inside the virtual field and you will be able to see the score, exact position of where you scored the goal and also rewatch your goals instantly in the app.
Augmented reality is used to visualize the goal in the app. The camera in the phone will also record and save clips (10 seconds), for you to rewatch your goals with your friends and teammates. Below you can see some screenshots from the app prototype done with Proto.io, showing screens of how to set up a goal and the match stats segment.
Play in the park
Practice target shooting on the football pitch
Play some good old street football
Do overhead kicks at the beach
Or play football tennis outside your home.
