Uploaded January 2022 | Updated September 2026, 4 hours ago
Billiard-AI is the bachelor thesis of Luca Ritz and Lukas Seglias in Computer Science at the Berne University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland. Billiard-AI is a system in which a camera above the pool table continuously takes pictures and the position and color of all balls are recognized in real-time. The player is shown the ball positions and tips for billiard shots directly on the table via a projector. Possible shots are found by analyzing the game situation and their difficulty is evaluated using various criteria. Both direct impacts and impacts over the rails are taken into account and the required speed of the cue ball is calculated. The simplest and most promising ones are suggested. A physics simulation calculates the game situation after the shot. The path of each ball involved is shown by lines on the table and the process is visualized by an animation of the projected balls. This makes it clear where which balls collide, are pocketed, or come to a standstill. The player can align the billiard cue (stick) along the displayed lines and follow the animated speed so that the shot is successful.
Billiard-AI is the bachelor thesis of Luca Ritz and Lukas Seglias in Computer Science at the Berne University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland. Billiard-AI is a system in which a camera above the pool table continuously takes pictures and the position and color of all balls are recognized in real-time. The player is shown the ball positions and tips for billiard shots directly on the table via a projector. Possible shots are found by analyzing the game situation and their difficulty is evaluated using various criteria. Both direct impacts and impacts over the rails are taken into account and the required speed of the cue ball is calculated. The simplest and most promising ones are suggested. A physics simulation calculates the game situation after the shot. The path of each ball involved is shown by lines on the table and the process is visualized by an animation of the projected balls. This makes it clear where which balls collide, are pocketed, or come to a standstill. The player can align the billiard cue (stick) along the displayed lines and follow the animated speed so that the shot is successful.
