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The Chameleon Soccer Ball Colorfully Eliminates Human Error

by Warren Riddle on March 24, 2010 at 03:05 PM

The World Cup of soccer kicks off this summer in South Africa, and even though the globe is ready for the world's most popular sporting event, an impressive hi-tech ball unfortunately won't be. AGENT has designed a technologically incredible soccer ball, capable of changing its color depending on various circumstances on the pitch.

The transparent CTRUS ball design, which requires no air because of a "skelle-core" inner structure, features a GPS/RFID chip that automatically monitors the ball's location. If the ball goes out of bounds, into the goal or offsides, the CTRUS instantly changes color. The ball's sensors, which haven't yet been publicly demonstrated, also reportedly track speed and force.

While the world will have to wait to witness the actual ball in action, hopefully the technology will prove effective and influence the leaders of other major athletic organizations. Football and baseball, in particular, could greatly benefit from a system that can instantly and exactly judge out-of-bounds and scoring situations. Although, at least for soccer, the technology might curtail some of the more colorful officiating. [From: Gizmodo and The Offside]

Tags: agent, ctrus, football, gps, soccer, soccer ball, SoccerBall, sports, top, World Cup 2010, WorldCup2010

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