We’ve all seen a ref make a bad call at their team’s expense. It sucks. NFL refs aren’t perfect. But footballs and gloves with built-in sensors will make it easier for them as well as put some out of business. It might even mark an end to coach’s challenges. Dr. Priya Narasimhan of Carnegie Mellon University has developed this football and gloves, outfitting them with wireless sensors that can precisely determine whether or not a ball hit the ground before being caught or whether or not someone had control of the ball before fumbling. Using GPS, they could also determine whether or not the ball crossed the goal line.

The same kind of sensors could easily be adapted to shoes, used to measure stride and running patterns, or even in shoulder pads, calculating blocking positions and force.

A sensor-based idea first drawn up and tested in the Harvard University Robotics Lab and originally funded by DARPA research grants has now found its way to market. It is called the Pressure Profile Systems FingerTPS and you’ll find it pricing around $5,000 for a single-hand system.

The Pressure Profile Systems FingerTPS, as you can see from the photo, places flexible sensors on select parts of the hand to “transmit accurate, repeatable tactile force data to a PC via wireless Bluetooth connection.” The maker says this data, integrated with video, “provides a complete representation of user interaction with tools, sports equipment, new
product designs, or medical applications.”