That sounds crazy, given that the first prototype hasn't even been completed yet (ok, one very early prototype using a 128x64 GLCD has been completed - was it really nearly two months ago? - but the entire product from end-to-end is still in development). Despite this, there are already plans for an entire range of ScoreSure products...

The original idea of a digital score keeping device for boules/petanque remains very much the driving force behind the whole ScoreSure project.
This original idea quickly transformed into a digital scorecard for golf players - incorporating all of the rules for score-keeping in golf, including the some of the less well-known rules such as 4-ball worst ball and Stableford scoring.

After making enquiries with casual players of the game (regular players and golf course staff/owners tend to be familiar with all aspects of the rules) it seems that quite a few players have not had things like Stableford Rules explained fully; with the consequence that a lot of casual players are missing out on playing in the very tournaments that have been designed for them!
For example, Stableford rules allow each player to play and score according to their own handicap and are made up in such a way that one or two bad holes do not blight the score card for an inconsistent player.

The ScoreSure Golf Pro is not just an electronic score card, but also a means of enforcing these rules, so that players can participate in any type of tournament, without the need to keep track of complicated score-keeping rules.

It's a sad fact that, in this day and age, with calculators and computers on every desk and in every pocket, that mental arithmetic is suffering.
A lot of games rely heavily on mental arithmetic, albeit rather simple calculations, for keeping score. Unfortunately, a lot of players are unable or unwilling to keep their own score accurately because of poor arithmetic and/or understanding of the rules of the game.

So this has become the driving force behind a range of ScoreSure score-keeping devices: to take the pressure off the player when keeping scores, no matter how poor their mental arithmetic. The secondary function of the ScoreSure device will be to maintain a historical record of the scores recorded, which can then be stored (online) against a player's profile. Over time, the player will be able to look back over their previous scores and monitor their progress, to see in which areas they need to improve. The ScoreScore method of entering player scores should ensure that entering results:

• is simple to use
• allows easy recall and playback of games played

Games to which these principles can be applied include

• Golf
• Boules/petanque
• Darts

The ScoreSure results website will not only be a repository of players scores, but will enable users to arrange these scores to create and maintain tournament details and league tables.

There are plans for our newest addition to the range - darts - to also include an avatar-based "playback" option online, where each game of darts can be watched, just like a video-playback of a match on the television: complete with split-screen view and character animations! An exciting prospect indeed: but only possible once the first few ScoreSure devices have rolled off the production line!

Work is almost complete on the online golf course editor.
Below is the link to a preview version of the editor.
http://www.scoresure.co.uk/golf/coursedetails.asp?courseid=ABCDEFG&holeno=1

Meanwhile, the first golf-oriented menu and bitmap has found its way onto the Nokia screen. Here is the main menu for Score Sure Golf Pro:

Work on the Nokia 6610 display and joystick continues at quite a pace and with the eeprom-drive menu code complete, it's time to get down to the nitty gritty of actually (re)building our ScoreSure Golf Pro digital scorecard device.

One of the planned features of the device is to download golf course data from the website www.scoresure.co.uk. This means putting it up there in the first place! Which means not only an online editor, but some method of recalling and displaying the golf course information - Adobe Flash seemed a perfect choice for this, and it is anticipated that the golf part of the website will be a mixture of HTML/XML/Ajax/Javascript and Flash.

http://www.scoresure.co.uk/golf/coursedetails.asp?courseid=ABCDEFG&holeno=1

The golf course hole information has been recreated using the course guide booklet and scorecards, available from the golf shop and online.

With all this talk of golf and visits to Whitefields Golf Course it'd be easy to lose sight of why the game scoring device idea came about - to provide a device for keeping score during games played at the Brighton and Hove Petanque Club. When not working on the GLCD interface (details to be posted here soon, when it's finally working properly and not just outputting garbage to the screen) and while waiting for some more etchant to build a breakout board, yet more exciting ideas have been spewing forth - particularly with regards a dedicated Petanque scoring device.

By removing all golf-related code, the microcontroller has enough free program memory to fit a digital distance measuring module. Like most search results for "measure distance microcontroller" on The Big G the most obvious solution is ultrasound.

I've investigated this quite a bit. The problem with using the speed of sound to measure distance is that it's not constant. It changes with temperature. And with Petanque being an outdoor game, this could be quite an issue, as the accuracy of the measurements would drift. The other issue is that the ultrasound receiver is quite bulky and not very accurate because of the wide response angle, so after much umming and ahhing, ultrasound was eventually ruled out.

Laser/radio measuring was quickly ruled out, as I couldn't get a microcontroller to run anywhere near fast enough to measure responses at the speed of light.

So it was back to more traditional methods of measuring distance - namely a tape measure. Now that's not very 21st century is it?
Thanks once again to Robot Steve and some rotary encoders from Farnell, a solution is on the way: a motorised tape measure - using the device interface buttons, a tape measure can extend/retract over a 1m distance, while the rotary encoders measure the distance and display it on the GLCD screen. Pretty cool huh?

And all made possible thanks to a hacked micro servo, similar to the 360 degree continuous rotation servo from botBuilder.co.uk



Simply put, the servo controls the top of a pair of rollers, while the encoder is attached to the bottom roller. As the servo turns, a tape measure is squeezed between the two, and extends/retracts accordingly. The rotary encoder keeps track of how many revolutions (or fractions of a revolution) have taken place, and this can be used to calculate and display the distance travelled on the screen.

It sounds pretty cool in theory. Pictures and videos will be posted here to show it working (or not) in practice....