Grip profile sensing and assessment

An instrumented baseball comprising:

• a core having a periphery;
• a leather cover wrapped around the core and configured to define a grip surface;
• a plurality of sensor elements disposed along the periphery of the core, each respective sensor element of the plurality of sensor elements being configured to generate an output signal indicative of force applied to the grip surface at the respective sensor element;
• and
• a circuit disposed inside the core, communicatively connected to the plurality of sensor elements, and configured to generate grip profile data based on the output signals.

A method of assessing a baseball grip profile, the method comprising:

• obtaining, with a processor, sensor data captured during a pitch by an instrumented baseball, the sensor data being indicative of grip position data and grip magnitude data correlated with the grip position data;
• generating, with the processor, grip profile data based on the sensor data;
• implementing, with the processor, a comparison of the grip profile data with preset grip profile data;
• and
• providing, with the processor, an assessment of the baseball grip profile based on the comparison.

A grip assessment system comprising:

• a grip assessment device comprising:
• a support structure having a periphery;
• a cover positioned around the support structure and configured to define a grip surface;
• a plurality of sensor elements disposed along the periphery of the support structure, each respective sensor element of the plurality of sensor elements being configured to generate an output signal indicative of force applied to the grip surface at the respective sensor element;
• and
• a control circuit communicatively coupled to the plurality of sensor elements and configured to generate grip profile data based on the output signals;
• and
• a computing device communicatively coupled to the grip assessment device to receive the grip profile data from the grip assessment device, the computing device comprising:
• a processor;
• and
• a memory in which grip profile comparison instructions are stored;
• wherein execution of the grip profile comparison instructions causes the processor to
• implement a comparison of the grip profile data with preset grip profile data;
• and
• provide a grip profile assessment based on the comparison.

A ball comprising:

• a support structure having a periphery;
• a cover positioned around the support structure and configured to define an exterior surface of the ball;
• a plurality of sensor elements disposed along the periphery of the support structure, each respective sensor element of the plurality of sensor elements being configured to generate an output signal indicative of force applied to the exterior surface at the respective sensor element;
• a motion sensor supported by the support structure, the motion sensor being configured to measure motion of the ball influenced by the force applied to the exterior surface;
• and
• a control circuit communicatively coupled to the plurality of sensor elements and the motion sensor to generate data based on the output signals and the measured motion.

A method of assessing dynamics of a ball, the method comprising:

• capturing, with a plurality of sensor elements embedded in the ball, sensor data indicative of a spatial distribution of forces applied to an exterior surface of the ball;
• capturing, with a motion sensor embedded in the ball, motion data indicative of motion of the ball influenced by the forces applied to the exterior surface of the ball;
• and
• providing, with a control circuit embedded in the ball, the sensor data and the motion data to a processor external to the ball.