Research on Curling Stone Trajectory Measurement System Using Multiple LRFs with No Fixed Relative Position between Sensors

Abstract

The dynamics of curling stones, the unique feature of curling, need to be fully resolved. In addition, curling tactics still need to be sufficiently analyzed. To conduct these studies, accurate and voluminous stone trajectory data is needed. Although a system combining an IR camera IR-LED and a system using video images has been proposed as a curling stone trajectory measurement system, it is not easy to install the system on an existing curling hall and sheet or to link it with other systems. Therefore, we developed a trajectory measurement system that can be easily installed by estimating its own position and posture. This system can expand the measurement range by combining multiple LRFs that use lasers to detect object positions, as well as estimate the relative positions of the LRFs. The measurement accuracy of the proposed method was determined to be on the order of cm when compared to motion capture.