Nissan’s Golf Ball Finds the Hole Every Time

In the video below, a four-year-old is shown attempting a rather long put in a seemingly haphazard fashion. First appearances, however, are apparently misleading here, as the ball actually curves to its destination, sinking in the cup after an apparently brilliant read of the landscape. While it is a brilliant read, the toddler isn’t actually the one doing the reading, but an overhead camera that detects the golf ball and hole positions.

As the ball moves, the system corrects its trajectory using an internal electric motor and some flavor of wireless communications for control. You can see a glimpse of the balls internals at 0:55 in the clip, though details of how it works are rather slim. (We did spot an embedded XBee module, but that’s about it.) Impressively, a little later in the video several adult golfers of unknown skill are seen attempting a put at the same time, and just like the single-ball exploit, it’s able to control five balls into the hole at the same time.

The hack is meant to promote Nissan’s ProPILOT 2.0 system, a not-quite self-driving mode that will be available on their new Skline model when it debuts next month in Japan. We of course welcome fun hacks, whether from large corporations or the basement tinkerer, and hope to see more of this type of promotional material in the future!

[h/t: Automotive News]