Blind people can now learn archery at the Haxterpark with an innovative optoelectronic target unit. The technology and know-how for this issue was established in the optoelectronics laboratories of Prof. Artur Zrenner as a result of many years of research experience. The target is detected by an infrared camera attached to the arch. Designed as a profile sensor, this camera is capable of determining the horizontal and vertical position of the target at a high frame rate. The result is an agile and energy-efficient detection system. The collected signals are transmitted to a smartphone via Bluetooth. To complete the system, Christopher Schrewing programmed an audio app for smartphones as part of his bachelor thesis. With help of this app, the space coordinates are converted into acoustic signals, which the archer perceives via headphones. The left-right deviation from the bullseye is transferred into a variation of the volume of a tone on the left or right earcup. The top-bottom deviation is represented by different sound frequencies, with the highest tone corresponding to the exact target detection.
The project was developed in cooperation with Haxterpark Paderborn and was financially supported by the "Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation". On August 1, 2018, the new technology was officially presented by Prof. Artur Zrenner, Center for Optoelectronics and Photonics of the University of Paderborn (CeOPP), Christopher Schrewing, and Helmut Böhmer, Managing Director of Haxterpark.
Guests were Nikolaus Risch, former President of the University of Paderborn and Chairman of the Westphalia Foundation, Bernhard Schäfer, Deputy Mayor of the City of Paderborn, Prof. Gudrun Doll-Tepper, Vice President of the German Olympic Sports Association, Prof. em. Wolf-Dietrich Brettschneider, emeritus sports scientist, Prof. Claus Reinsberger from the Sports Medical Institute of the University of Paderborn and three blind archers, including Dario Farruggio (see picture).
