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When you open your Christmas present this year it might not be obvious that you are helping a revolution in sports science. Some of the most popular presents are likely to be mobile phones, games consoles and computer games and the modern stocking filler now contains more sensory technology than an early space mission. The accelerometer chip that prompts your phone to create light-sabre sounds as you swing it is the same technology that we use to help train the world’s best athletes.
In what seems like no time at all we have our second guest blog ready for consumption (if you fancy writing something get in touch). This piece discusses a piece of sports technology to measure power in weight lifting, enjoy!
“Power is the most desired physical quality for a number of sports because it entails both force (strength) and velocity (speed) aspects.”[1]
Dan Baker – President of the ASCA Brisbane Broncos Strength and Conditioning Coach
Why do we need to measure power in an athlete’s performance? Well, Dan Baker also says:
“Once adequate levels of strength have been attained, training priorities may focus more on increased power… “[2]
This series of posts looks at the Kinect as a potential tool for analysis in Biomechanics. Previously we explored the quality of algorithms which detect a user’s body segments, finding real potential should the appropriate tools be developed. The power of the Kinect comes from its ability to ‘see’ depth, every point on an image can be resolved according to its distance from the Kinect camera. The corresponding point cloud drives many of the amazing functions which give the device so much potential. This post focuses on the point cloud data which can be extracted from the Kinect and work we’ve done to exploit it for Biomechanics.
The depth information from the MS Kinect, colour coded according to distance from sensor
The Hardware
Dubbed ‘the fastest selling electronic product in history’, Microsoft’s Kinect has clearly captured the attention of the gamer. The market was fundamentally changed by Nintendo and the Wii, the Kinect is Microsoft’s attempt at a user-friendly, demographic spanning input device. While the Wii takes signals from a hand-held ‘Wii-Mote’, the Kinect does away with controllers completely.
Sony and the All England Lawn Tennis Club have signed a deal to allow TV viewers to watch Wimbledon in 3D. Along with their partners SuperVision Media, Sony will use their special filming techniques to capture and broadcast live in 3D. Read the rest of this entry »
A couple of weeks ago I discussed the new Ski-Jump world record set in Norway, this time I’m reporting on another record set on UK soil (or a plastic ski slope to be more specific). The record I am referring to is the highest jump from a quarter pipe on a dry ski slope.
On a wet and windy day this February, I travelled to Rossendale Ski Slope in Lancashire with fellow Sports Engineer Heather Driscoll. Although I had visited the ski slope once before as a wide eyed and mal-coordinated teenager to try and learn to ski, I was returning as a nervous and mal-coordinated adult for a very different purpose.
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