A sensing sports ball is disclosed that includes an inner core of a RF transparent polymeric potting material encapsulating a circuit board assembly electrically coupled to a power source and a transmitter and including at least one sensor electrically coupled thereto that is operably configured to ascertain at least one dynamic physical property of the sports ball, wherein the inner core defines top indentations and bottom indentations opposing the top indentations that span inwardly toward the circuit board assembly, thereby removing material to substantially equate to the weight of an inner core of a conventional sports ball. The ball also includes an outer shell layup and outer surface of a spherical shape and material of a conventional sports ball.

A system for determining a position of one or more pieces of athletic equipment on an athletic playing surface is provided. The system includes one or more pieces of athletic equipment each including therein an RFID chip, the RFID chip comprising an electronic circuit configured to produce and transmit an RF signal. The system also includes an array of sensors positioned on or in proximity to the athletic playing surface and configured to receive RF signals from the RFID chip of each of the one or more pieces of athletic equipment. The system also includes a processing system operably connected to the array of sensors to receive data from the array of sensors, the processing system programmed to process the data from the array of sensors to determine a position of each of the one or more pieces of athletic equipment on the athletic playing surface.

A projectile in form of a spherical ball, a prolate spheroid ball, an oblate spheroid ball, a missile-shaped projectile, a tubular projectile, or a cone-shaped projectile, comprising electronic circuitries for performing at least one of projectile motion, impact, speed, force, rotation, gyration, and vibration sensing, interactive light and sound generation, projectile location tracking, data communication, and user control interfacing; and compartments or cavities in, and/or subsurface concavities around the main body of the projectile, each compartment, cavity, or subsurface concavity is configured to accommodate and allow attachment of an interchangeable module; wherein the one or more interchangeable modules comprises at least one of speaker modules, light modules, tail modules, logo panel modules, light modules, electronic display modules, wing modules, and fin modules.

Recreational footballs with rotor assemblies are provided herein. An example football includes a plurality of struts forming a prolate spheroid frame; and one or more rotor assemblies each having a plurality of blades, the one or more rotor assemblies being disposed within the prolate spheroid frame, the one or more rotor assemblies changing at least one aerodynamic aspect of flight of the recreational device when air passes through the prolate spheroid frame and rotates the plurality of blades of the one or more rotor assemblies.

Recreational footballs with rotor assemblies are provided herein. An example recreational device includes a shell forming a prolate spheroid frame, a shaft disposed within the prolate spheroid frame and located along a central axis defined by the prolate spheroid frame, and one or more fan assemblies each having a plurality of blades, the one or more fan assemblies rotating around or in conjunction with the shaft, the one or more fan assemblies changing at least one aerodynamic aspect of flight of the recreational device when air passes through the prolate spheroid frame and across the plurality of blades of the one or more fan assemblies as the recreational device spirals during flight.

Recreational footballs with rotor assemblies are provided herein. An example recreational device includes a shell forming a prolate spheroid frame, a shaft disposed within the prolate spheroid frame and located along a central axis defined by the prolate spheroid frame, and one or more fan assemblies each having a plurality of blades, the one or more fan assemblies rotating around or in conjunction with the shaft, the one or more fan assemblies changing at least one aerodynamic aspect of flight of the recreational device when air passes through the prolate spheroid frame and across the plurality of blades of the one or more fan assemblies as the recreational device spirals during flight.

Recreational footballs with rotor assemblies are provided herein. An example recreational device includes a shell forming a prolate spheroid frame, a shaft disposed within the prolate spheroid frame and located along a central axis defined by the prolate spheroid frame, and one or more fan assemblies each having a plurality of blades, the one or more fan assemblies rotating around or in conjunction with the shaft, the one or more fan assemblies changing at least one aerodynamic aspect of flight of the recreational device when air passes through the prolate spheroid frame and across the plurality of blades of the one or more fan assemblies as the recreational device spirals during flight.

A ball for a sporting event is provided that includes an outer layer, an inner layer and a circuit coupled to the outer layer or the inner layer.

An automated objective American-football evaluation system may include an American-style football, at least one sensor carried by the football, and electronics. The electronics arranged to: (a) receive strings of sensor signals from the at least one sensor, wherein the characteristic of the throw of the football determined by the electronics; and (b) output throw quality. The throw quality is based upon a combination of at least two throw characteristic determined based upon the received string of sensor signals associated with a throw of the football. The at least two throw characteristics are selected from a group of throw characteristics consisting of: velocity; spin rate; time-of-flight; angle of attack; release angle; cone angle; nutation angle; spiral efficiency; and spiral decay.

The invention relates to the method of producing toy balls for pets, including: manufacturing distorted sphere balls with an opening in the distorted area using injection molding; sealing the opening of the distorted sphere balls to form uni-body sphere-shaped balls. The material used in the production of these toys can be rubber, thermoplastic elastomers, or thermoplastic rubber. This method allows to manufacture toy balls with no detached parts in the case of broken joints when the balls are chewed or torn apart by the pets. Thus, the invention can help to keep the pets from endangering themselves by swallowing detached parts of pet toy balls.