Precise wheel and ball speed in Real Time

Precise measurements of wheel speed and ball speed in real time available using non-visible light based on Carnegie Mellon and Disney joint venture to radically decrease the lag time between video game player's physical motions and game character's reactions.

That is some pretty cool stuff. Ever since I accidentally took a course on computer logic (OR, AND, XOR, etc) gates I have had a hobby interest in electronics.
Three home projects that I built were;

a timing gate and photo-electric finish line for the Gran Prix Pinewood Derby cars that the boy scouts and other orgs race.

a softball pitching machine that would randomly pick one of 4 different pitches, and 9 different locations. top speed was 70 mph. It was a moderate success as something to bat against, but it was a top class softball cover peeler, and the 70 mph knuckleball turned out to be REALLY REALLY good at turning the tables and trying to hit the batter instead. Ran off a 12v car battery.

a project that used an accelerometer to measure the g force that was occurring while racing go karts. (I was in a racing league at the local indoor track, and to simulate damage being taken as a result of hitting other karts, the accelerometer registered and accumulated the amount of time you were over a certain threshold. Take enough 'damage', and you were forced to pit to reset the accelerometer (aka fix the damage).

I've often wondered if casinos with all those flashing lights would ever notice an extra strobe light or two placed yards away from the roulette pit and giving timing pulses in UV or IF band ranges. Then just sit there with a watchband or a contact lens and a partner with fifty pounds of ghetto glitter to distract the curious. If security types show up and want to frisk fifty pounds of jewelry you just fade away.

okay, so you want to predict where the ball will land.

First, you need to calculate the speed of the wheel, and then separately calculate the speed of the ball. After a couple of measurements, you should be able to calculate how much further the ball will travel before it falls to the interior of the wheel. Calculating that distance should get you to the right section of the wheel.

But after that, can you really get much closer? The ball could hit a diamond. It can hit a fret and jump high, or it can jump back up on the banking. It would seem that the ball is going to be almost as random as a pair of dice being thrown on a craps table.

Quote: RaleighCraps

okay, so you want to predict where the ball will land.

First, you need to calculate the speed of the wheel, and then separately calculate the speed of the ball. After a couple of measurements, you should be able to calculate how much further the ball will travel before it falls to the interior of the wheel. Calculating that distance should get you to the right section of the wheel.

But after that, can you really get much closer? The ball could hit a diamond. It can hit a fret and jump high, or it can jump back up on the banking. It would seem that the ball is going to be almost as random as a pair of dice being thrown on a craps table.

I'm really enjoying your garage workshop creativity, Raleigh! Love applied mechanical engineering; fascinating.

Y'all are reminding me of my hi-tech turntable from the mid-70's with the yellow strobe to the side and the raised platter surface with the silver dashes down the side. The dashes were all around the perimeter, and if you got the turntable to the correct speed with the rheostatic control (it had 33 1/3-45-78 rpm on it; probably the only decade when people cared about all 3) in dim light, the dashes appeared to be standing still. For audio purists only, I suppose. I loved that thing; could tune my guitar to one song and be right on pitch no matter what song I was trying to learn after that.