Flutterby™! : Frisbee Research 2008-11-25 00:00:37.111573+00

Frisbee Research

2008-11-25 00:00:37.111573+00 by Dan Lyke 6 comments

Ralph Lorenz Frisbee Research (Via P1k3's Link Dump)

The generation 2 frisbee incorporated a more powerful microcontroller (Netmedia BX-24), powered by 6 1/3AAA NiMH cells. Sensors include ADXL202 2-axis accelerometer as before, infrared altimeter, 2 photodiode sun sensors, a magnetometer, an experimental upper surface pressure sensor, and a speed-of-sound anemometer.

Found this the other day when we were having a conversation at SparkFun about putting accelerometers on a disc - from the pictures, I'd be kind of surprised if the thing flies all that well, but there is an impressive amount of instrumentation on it.

I'm thinking about gutting a Flashflight and seeing what I can cram into that central compartment...

I wondered a bit about balance, my experience taping glowsticks and LEDs into Frisbees leads me to believe that that'd be the only real issue.

Yeah. It depends a bit on your standards, too. It's pretty common in serious ultimate games to swap out discs that've been stepped on or thrown into a utility pole or some such, where in a casual game of catch it probably wouldn't make much difference, and I've known folks to spend a fair amount of time with high-grit sandpaper evening out a favorite piece of plastic.

I even used to have a fairly solid forehand with a peel both ways and a hammer, and I was definitely never in the "swap it out" camp. But that could have been 'cause the team I played with was always more renown for their performances at the after party rather than on the field. And I don't remember ever not having a disc at practice, but I do remember it being touch-and go once or twice.

Speaking of which, that'd be a good thing to do. Must see if there's a local league.

We too were generally more likely to win the party than the tournament, but it seems like there was always someone around with a dufflebag full of discs at practice. Now that I think about it, the probability of our having more alternate frisbees than alternate players on hand probably had something to do with our overall record.

Living in Boulder, I've got no better excuse than laziness for not at least playing pickup on the weekends or something.

Like Dan, I've been meaning to get out for "last backs" for quite a while. I've been a little hesitant since with most physical activities in Boulder you end up competing with Olympic athletes and Tour de France riders.