Pendulum Tracker -- SimuFísica: A Web-based Tool for Real-time Measurement of Oscillatory Motion
This provides an accessible, versatile tool for experimental physics teaching, though it is incremental as it applies existing methods to a new educational context.
The authors developed Pendulum Tracker, a web-based tool using computer vision to measure pendulum motion in real-time via device cameras, showing excellent agreement with theoretical predictions for period, gravitational acceleration, and damped oscillations.
We present Pendulum Tracker, a computer vision-based application that enables real-time measurement of the oscillatory motion of a physical pendulum. Integrated into the educational platform SimuFísica, the system uses the OpenCV.js library and runs directly in the browser, working on computers, tablets, and smartphones. The application automatically detects the pendulum's position via the device's camera, displaying in real time the angle-versus-time graph and estimates of the oscillation period. Experimental case studies demonstrate its effectiveness in measuring the period, determining gravitational acceleration, and analyzing damped oscillations. The results show excellent agreement with theoretical predictions, confirming the system's accuracy and its applicability in educational contexts. The accessible interface and the ability to export raw data make Pendulum Tracker a versatile tool for experimental physics teaching.