Interactive Ping Pong Table Teaches You How to Improve

Most of us probably need a little bit of help improving our table tennis game, and one high-tech ping pong table is out to do just that. Using integrated video sensors hooked up to a responsive overhead projector, the table cannot only create stunning visuals during play, but it can actually tell you exactly what to do to improve and beat your opponent. The technology behind the table can also track player information, giving you a real time stat board which will surely create the most intense ping pong tournament for your next party.

The last time many of you touched a ping pong ball was likely in a dead heat against a probably heavily inebriated opponent in a game of beer pong. Hopefully you won, but don't forget that there's a real game that goes along with those light plastic balls. Invented by young German designer Thomas Mayer, the Table Tennis Trainer makes the normally disregarded "sport" of table tennis look like a futuristic battle of opponents.

There are various different modes on the table, ranging from serve training to multiplayer. It's not yet a product yet, but it has certainly been added to my "I want that!" list.

[Image Source: Thomas Mayer]

The visuals created by the table during play are equally as stunning as the graphics in the user interface. Imagine facing off against an opponent where every move the ball makes is tracked on the table. The lines it ends up making could be considered modern art by some, and it is incredibly cool to look back on all the paths the ball made. You will never have to question whether the ball bounced twice, or hit the table either, as the interactive board will operate in a mode which displays circles around where the ping pong ball last bounced.

This technology isn't exactly new, but it is nonetheless cool to see it implemented in such a way. What do you think? Will you be the first in line to get your hands on one of these table tennis training systems?

SEE ALSO: Man versus Machine in Ping Pong Showdown