Spin-Sense | haptic feedback for the
visually impaired tennis fans
passion project (based on accessibility workshop at the Amsterdam university of applied sciences)
potential Clients: sport organizations and facilities in the Netherlands
Timeline: 1 month
#inclusiveDesign #assistiveTechnology #haptics #UXResearch #AI #wearables #socialImpact
project brief: Enhancing the experience of watching a tennis game for the visually impaired tennis fans at the live events
project roles:
Conceptualization and system design
User research and expert interviews
Haptic feedback mapping
Hardware prototyping (Arduino, AI camera)
Visual storytelling & UX strategy
Stakeholder engagement and business model design
Similarly, haptic feedback technologies have been explored to provide tactile representations of on-court action. However, these systems are still in developmental stages and are not widely available. Moreover, their effectiveness varies, and they often require significant investment in specialized equipment.
I’ve identified a diverse group of stakeholders whose collaboration and support are crucial to our success. Also, this can be counted as the possible target market in the future. Our stakeholders include:
Visually Impaired Users: The primary beneficiaries of SpinSense, whose feedback is essential for product development and refinement.
Sports Fans: Enthusiasts who advocate for inclusive technologies that make sports more accessible to all.
Journalists and Media Outlets: Key players in raising awareness about SpinSense and the broader issue of accessibility in sports.
Technology Companies: Potential partners in advancing the technical aspects of SpinSense, ensuring cutting-edge performance and integration.
Educational Institutions and Researchers: Collaborators in studying the impact of assistive technologies and contributing to continuous improvement.
There are multiple organizations that support the visually impaired in the Netherlands. I see this as an opportunity to present this idea and include it in an organizational scheme. Especially I’m very eager to work with International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA), who oversees sports designed for athletes with visual impairments, including goalball and showdown.
Here are the conclusions from your interviews clearly summarized in bullet points:
• Broader Target Audience: Enabling technologies should aim at a broad audience, not limiting themselves to a narrow spectrum of visually impaired users.
• Multisensory Nature of Sports: Watching sports involves multiple sensory inputs (e.g., sound of the ball or racket, food aromas, crowd atmosphere), which assistive technology must acknowledge and incorporate.
• Customization is Essential: Assistive technologies should allow for customization, as different visually impaired fans have varied interests and preferences regarding details of sporting events.
• Value and Cost: Attending sporting events is expensive, so any enabling technology must significantly enhance the user’s experience to justify this cost.
• Research and Spontaneity: While extensive research (Elodie and team, GiveVision) helps refine design concepts, effective solutions can also emerge spontaneously (David and team, Field of Vision), highlighting diverse paths in innovation.
• Critical Importance of User Testing: Testing designs with real users is crucial—illustrated by examples like the Braille Rubik’s cube, where only 8% of blind individuals could read Braille, showing a disconnect between perceived innovation and practical utility.
• Defining Design Purpose and Necessity: Clearly defining the goal and necessity of a design, as emphasized by Elodie Drapari, is fundamental in creating meaningful assistive technologies.
• Physical and Mental Effort: Attending sports events is significantly more energy-intensive and exhausting for visually impaired fans, making the effectiveness of assistive technology especially important.
The big problem
In the Netherlands alone, 367,000 people are visually impaired. 73% of visually impaired fans avoid attending live sports events due to poor accessibility. While some solutions exist (e.g. augmented vision headsets), they often exclude those who are blind or lack affordability and customization.
While there have been advancements aimed at enhancing the experience for visually impaired sports fans, these solutions often fall short. For instance, the introduction of augmented reality headsets, such as those trialed at Wimbledon, showed promise in improving visual input for individuals with low vision . However, these devices primarily assist those with residual vision and may not be suitable for individuals who are completely blind.
The Solution
I believe lack of real-time information significantly diminishes the ability of the visually impaired fans to follow and enjoy the game.
Every sports event is broadcasted to the audience and spectators through audio-visual output. However, partially sighted fans need a complementary input alongside video and audio, since these fans only receive a fraction of the visuals, based their level of impairment.
SpinSense is a “complementary system” in what I’d like to call ”the experience cycle” ; the experience cycle includes: visual input, audio input and special feedback input. SpinSense will combine with both “visual” and “auditory” input to enhance and emphasize the experience of watching a tennis match live. SpinSense will enhance the tennis watching experience by providing customizable features for a range of fans based on their level of visual impairment, their passion and their knowledge of the game and their prefrences.
Proof of concept
I’ve started on the preliminary prototypes and played around with tennis videos and Arduinos. So far I’ve managed to sync the vibration with a pre-recorded tennis match.
My idea for the future of the project is to continue the development in 3 possible paths: Sensor-based, AI camera based, or hybrid.
I’m also exploring with Raspberry Pi and AI camera module to understand its mechanics and learn how to work with libraries so I can move to pose recognition and estimation. So far, I’ve managed to learn the basics of object recognition (I’m not sure if it will come in handy for SpinSense) and basics of training AI with images. I believe traning AI could be part of the big solution for SpinSense.
The process
To solidify the research phase and gain deeper insights into both the technical and ethical dimensions of my idea, I conducted targeted interviews with four key experts. These individuals were strategically chosen due to their expertise and lived experience: Elodie Drapari, co-founder and CEO of GiveVision, an organization enhancing the remaining sight of partially sighted people; Ed Hankler, a seasoned social entrepreneur from The Blind Guide, specializing in inclusive design for visually impaired users with extensive industry connections; David Deneher, co-founder of Field of Vision, who developed technology enabling visually impaired fans to track Rugby and Football games; and Rik Wouters, a lived-experience expert with minimal sight (0.03 vision) actively involved in RunningBlind, bringing valuable firsthand insights.
Study of the stakeholders
Competetive advantage
Wearable and Personal While existing solutions often rely on stationary devices or tablets, this glove offers a wearable, personal experience. It allows users to feel the game in real-time, whether they're in the stadium. It’s also encouraging the visually impaired fans to attend social events.
Enhanced Accessibility By focusing on the tactile translation of tennis shots, the glove provides visually impaired fans with a richer understanding of the game's flow and intensity. This level of detail goes beyond what audio commentary alone can offer, fostering a deeper emotional connection to the sport
Tennis-Specific Haptic Feedback Current devices like OneCourt, Field of Vision, and Touch2See focus on sports such as football, basketball, and baseball, translating general game events into tactile feedback. In contrast, this glove is tailored for tennis, capturing the nuances of different shots (topspin, slice, serve) and conveying them through distinct vibration patterns on the palm or back of the hand, depending on the shot type
Integration of AI and Sensor Technologies makes this idea up-to-date and future proof. With the advancements in the AI, SpinSense will have a good platform for the upcoming iterations in the future.