Pa. Student's Software Captures The Game From The Ball's Perspective
By Ian Bush
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - If you thought cameras had every angle covered on the football field, a Pennsylvania college student's project could have you seeing the game from a whole new perspective.
There are dozens of cameras pointed at the field on any given Sunday, but Kris Kitani saw what's missing: "Wouldn't it be cool if you could experience football from the ball's point of view as people are ripping the ball away from each other and as the ball's flying?"
So, the post-doctorate research fellow at Carnegie Mellon University said, 'why not fit a camera in the football itself?'
"Basically you see a big blur, because the camera's moving so fast -- close to up to 600 RPMs."
WATCH: Video of the ball camera in action.
To solve the motion sickness, Kitani and his team wrote software that tosses skyward shots and smoothly stitches together the good ground video -- like a smartphone taking a panorama.
"Kind of flying almost like an airplane over the football field."
Could the same kind of tech be used in a baseball, volleyball, or tennis ball?
"Maybe if there's some kind of new camera that's able to withstand some kind of impact, it could be possible for other ball-based sports."
Now, the challenge is to make it small and light enough not to throw off the thrower -- and for the NFL to take notice.
