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Steerable bowling ball means anyone can bowl 300
At first we thought this remote-controlled bowling ball was a joke. But no, the RC900 is a real, shipping product, steered with a remote control. It works by moving a weight mounted on a threaded shaft within this semitransparent bowling ball.
The Texas company that makes the $1500 trick ball markets it for children and disabled bowlers, letting them easily steer it away from the gutters. It does a great job — it's nimbly guided, even around multiple obstacles as you can see in the video above.
Here's a close-up of the bowling ball itself, along with another video of the ball and its remote control in action:
We're wondering how such technology might work when the ball is bowled full speed. It's rife with cheating possibilities — from now on, every bowling ball used by those unusually improved bowling buddies of yours will need to undergo careful scrutiny.
900 Global, via Popular Mechanics
By Mr. Gumsandals at 11:42 AM ON 11/09/09
Clever but I suspect at a normal higher speed course corrections are superfluous.
By lordanubis82 at 1:35 PM ON 11/09/09
maybe someday they'll crate a bowling ball like the one in the Eureka episode "It's Not Easy Being Green". where there's a touch screen key pad on it and can split it self down the middle so it can hit the bowling pins that are at opposite sides at the same time. that way everyone can score a 300 without the use of a remote.
if u watch Eureka (on Syfy) u know what i'm talking about.
By thisisonlyatest at 5:20 PM ON 11/09/09
I really think bowling should just be bowling. It should remain an inexpensive way to spend a drunken week-end...
Granted, this thing has some interesting components and it a rather exciting piece of tech, but bowling is about how straight you can roll a large ball, so let's not ruin it by cheating.
By trinity343 at 6:55 PM ON 11/09/09
fascinating but it'll never have 'real world' applications in professional or league bowling. also it probably wouldn't work at higher speeds that avid bowlers bowl at so it wouldn't be worth the trouble anyway.
To Lordanubis: it is not possible to get a 300 game if your having to pick up a spare by having the ball split to pick up a split (pins that are separated) 300s are only possible if you get all strikes so having to pick up a spare would cause one to miss making a 300.
To Thisisonlyatest: bowling is not about how straight you can throw the ball. it is about making as high as score as possible. avid bowlers do not throw them straight they use techniques that allow them to hook the ball in different directions.
i can make this comments b/c i am an avid bowling (leagues, tourney's, have my own equipment and such) i also use techniques to hook my ball from right to left as well.
the technology is fascinating though and i can see possible other usable applications for it
By Person1 at 8:42 PM ON 11/09/09
This tech is like discovering how to bend spacetime and making a cappucino machine with it. Totally like Portal: Still Alive in every way. Just get past this phase, manufacturers, and manufacture us something REAL, not a dumb toy.
This'll turn bowling into an arcade game.
Anybody seen WALL-E?
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Person1:
This tech is like discovering how to bend spacetime and making a cappucino machine with it. Totally like Portal: St...More »