HILLSBORO, Ore. — New Intel technology is making it more efficient for Olympians and other athletes to prepare for the biggest moments of their careers.
The tech, called 3D athlete tracking, imports video of athletes training, taken by a phone or GoPro, and sends it to the cloud for AI analysis.
A digital skeleton of the athlete is created, tracking body angles, velocity, acceleration, stride length and other key data. AI then pinpoints 21 different spots on an athlete's body and sends reports to coaches.
"This is becoming an emerging capability," Todd Harple, Intel’s AI Program Innovation Lead, said.
The company first began working on the technology in the lead up to the Tokyo Olympics. Since then, they’ve worked with athletes like Noah Lyles, the defending champion in the men’s 100-meter dash.
"I think we're going to see an increasingly optimized and personalized ability to coach people," Harple said.
The AI technology is also being used to scout young players, Harple said. The goal is that the tech can help smaller countries quickly identify key physical traits in players, thereby helping them determine if a young player could become good enough to eventually reach the Olympics.
"I think it's going to become more and more commonplace,” Harple said of the technology. “We are getting better at creating data out of our actions in the physical world."
Eventually, Harple believes the tools will be used worldwide to benefit people of all ages — not just for sports but also for things like physical therapy.
"It's pretty exciting to take a step back and say, 'Wow, if I digitize the world around me, what can I do with that?"' Harple said.