Project F: Ping Pong Observer

Overview

The goal of this project is to determine the status of the ping pong table from a network video stream in real time.

Background

We have several options at eMoney for taking a break and relaxing with coworkers, the most popular of which is a ping pong table. The table is usually in high demand and results in long wait times.

Specification

The purpose of this project is to automatically determine the status of the ping pong table using computer vision techniques. The application should be able to detect the following statuses:

• Ping pong game is in progress.
• Ping pong table is available.
• Camera moved to no longer point at the table.

The application will connect to a network video stream from a camera pointed at the ping pong table and continuously monitor the frames of the video stream for changes in status. When a change of status is detected, the application will print out the new status to the console with a timestamp. Since the network video stream is not accessible outside of eMoney, we will provide you with pre-recoded files (MPEG2) demonstrating the possible statuses.

Computer Vision

You can get as creative as you'd like or stick with simpler algorithms for analyzing the frames of the video. Skills and techniques from CISC442 are useful, but not required.

Technology

• The programming language is up to you, but C# or Java will work fine.
• The technology you use to decode the video stream is up to you, but VLC will work fine. We can provide an application in C# using VLC on Windows to get you right up to the frame analysis loop.
• The project must be able to run on Windows Server.
• Computer vision techniques, can be simple.

* Should you choose to develop with C#, we can provide assistance to setup your server environment and tool chain.