How Robotics Affects the Sports Industry

How Robotics Affects the Sports Industry

The sports world as we know it is evolving at an Internet fast pace and so are robotics. Athletes and referees can now access advanced techniques and equipment to train, enabling their training and performance to step up to a whole new level. It’s not just about athletes or refs being the strongest or fastest, having the most talent, or utilizing years of experiences anymore. To be the best of the best, each athlete or ref must train intelligently, using the most advanced technique and tech to master the sport. The Sports Techie community blog is a proponent of implementing robots into practice, sporting competitions and events when appropriate because winning is big business in professional and even amateur sports, they can also enhance the games and certainly assist with getting the call right. Plus, a robot has no ego which is a big issue people. This is where technology comes in.

Robotics puts training into a new league

Technology is now playing a key role in training regimes. Golden State Warriors‘ superstar Stephen Curry may have earned his name as one of the greatest shooters in basketball history with a little help from technology. During training, he dribbles with one hand, catching a tennis ball in the other, all while wearing military grade goggles with strobing effects that effectively block his line of vision. This means that he has to react based on only limited information, resulting in him being more physically and mentally prepared for anything thrown at him during the game.

Tracking technology

Training has also been greatly boosted by the advancements in tracking technology. These provide feedback on a number of physical properties. This next generation of player monitoring and tracking, has seen sensors attached to players’ jerseys to track performance, making it possible to analyze their risk of injury and tell them when its safe for them to go back to playing.

Virtual reality

Another sporting innovation has been virtual reality. Virtual reality headsets allow the user to be absorbed in a realistic, interactive 3D world. It allows players to experience realistic training by imagining ‘real’ on-field situations, but without any risk of injury. It creates a 360-degree training video, from a player’s perspective.

What’s next?

Well that remains to be seen. But there’s no doubt that in the future, robotics will be working alongside athletes and officials to help achieve a level of performance, accountability and sportsmanship the world has never seen before.

Sports Techie, the UAE loves to camel race and have done so for generations to the delight of fans across the Middle East. The problem a decade ago was most human riders were underage kids taken from homes and put into the dangers of riding fast camels while being subjected to human rights child abuse conditions. In comes robotics to the rescue.

Modern day camel jockeys are robots that weigh 6 pounds and use walkie talkies allowing nearby trainers riding in SUVs alongside to transmit racing instructions and control the animal with the use a remote control whip.

It is only a matter of time before the trainers use VR to interface with the robot camel jockeys allowing a more seamless technology-driven way to race camels that is as human operated as can be with the assistance of the robot for safety sake. A camel with a robotic ref on top could also be used to ensure rules are followed and fair play is adhered too.

Now if the owners would only pay the robots, offer free upgrades and eliminate the need to strike the camel with a whip we could really be onto a sport tech solution that works for all.

Robotics and sports, resistance is futile.