In half a month, athletes from all over the world will gather at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics to play their best in the world of ice and snow. Prior to this, they had been training for many months, under the guidance of professional coaches, and watered the flowers of success with sweat.
How to empower the sports training of Winter Olympic athletes through high-tech means?
"AI coach", ski robot, the third eye of the ice and snow athlete... Shanghai universities are using technology to help athletes become "ice and snow elves"!
"AI Coach" coaches athletes
Professor Zhang Lihua, professor of the Institute of Engineering and Applied Technology of Fudan University and executive vice president of the Institute of Intelligent Robotics, who has long been engaged in research related to artificial intelligence, computer vision and intelligent perception, is keenly aware of the possibility of the application of AI technologies such as motion recognition and detection, motion analysis and tracking among the athletes dancing and rotating.
Zhang Lihua proposed the use of artificial intelligence technology to improve the level of ice sports training. After nearly two years of hard work, Zhang Lihua's team has created an intelligent ice sports training analysis system. The system uses artificial intelligence computer vision algorithms to intelligently analyze and compare the movements, postures, speeds and other information of skaters, from qualitative, quantitative to customized analysis of the characteristics of each athlete, improve the level and efficiency of scientific training, effectively reduce the workload of coaches, and achieve scientific training, effectively improve the training effect of athletes and competition results.
"We use artificial intelligence technology to analyze the skeleton of ice athletes, the movements of each joint, and the posture, which is called the identification and visualization of the skeleton nodes of the movement target." Zhang Lihua introduced. "The trajectory and posture of short-track speed skating and speed skating are clear at a glance, from the analysis of qualitative coaches to quantitative scientific analysis methods."
In the past, professional coaches always stared intently at athletes, but now the intelligent ice sports training analysis system allows high-definition cameras to dynamically supervise athletes in real time on the sidelines, through sports target tracking and trajectory visualization, identifying the key points of bones and movement trajectories on each athlete on the monitoring screen, showing the statistical information of various sports indicators.
For figure skating, there are more evaluation criteria, and the intelligent ice sports training analysis system helps athletes improve the standardization and aesthetics of posture through three-dimensional skeleton node detection and posture estimation. The visualization of 3D models of sports targets provides convenience for technical analysis such as figure skater rotation counting, becoming a real "AI coach".
Ski robots are online
Flexible avoidance of obstacles, posture through the flag gate, human-computer interaction gliding side by side... Recently, the six-legged ski robot designed and developed by Shanghai Jiao Tong University completed the primary road, intermediate road and co-skiing experiment in Shenyang, and passed the tests of stability control, intelligent perception, planning decision-making and so on.
In this test, the ski robot in the 400 meters long, slope of 18 degrees of intermediate slope, at a speed greater than 10m / s gliding, the use of intelligent perception, brake control and other technologies, completed the robot racing, turning, planning routes, obstacle avoidance and human and robot interaction and other experimental subjects, in addition to the body flexible, beautiful posture, it can be through the wireless remote human-computer interaction control, in the real ski environment through the skiing crowd, so that everyone can experience the fun of skiing with the robot.
This ski robot was developed under the call of the "Winter Olympics of Science and Technology", led by Professor Gao Gao of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and composed of the School of Mechanical and Power Engineering and the School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and won the key special support of the National Key Research and Development Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology "Science and Technology Winter Olympics".
According to reports, this ski robot is a six-legged robot that uses skiing. The four legs in the middle are divided into two groups, each two legs are fixed to a ski, which is used to control the position and posture of the ski, and the two legs on both sides are equipped with ski poles to imitate people and realize the function of the cane. Each ski has five degrees of freedom, and by controlling the posture of the board, you can achieve functions such as speed control, turning and braking.
The research team first conducted research on the design and manufacture of robot mechanisms and drivers, and established a "brain" for the robot - an intelligent system. This system includes dynamic balance stability control, intelligent perception and intelligent planning, through the organic integration of design intelligence and behavioral intelligence, so that the robot can analyze human skiing behavior data, imitate human skiing action, adapt to the environmental characteristics of outdoor snow surface, and achieve autonomous rapid and stable coasting.
Ski robots are not only the intuitive embodiment of the "Winter Olympics of Science and Technology", but also provide unlimited imagination for the post-Winter Olympic era with the concept of "human-machine integration". The research team said, "After the Winter Olympics, this robot can also combine the current 5G, wireless network and other advanced technologies, through remote control, to achieve ski robots in the same field, to create a new entertainment model of 'electric -machine-competition', to create a new entertainment trend with a full sense of science and technology for ski enthusiasts and teenagers." ”
The third eye of the ice athlete
Liu Yu is a professor at the Shanghai University of Sport and the chief scientist of the key special project of the national key research and development program "Science and Technology Winter Olympics". At the National Ski Jumping Center "Xue Ruyi" in Chongli District, Zhangjiakou, there is a minivan parked on the side of the field, and the words "Key Laboratory of Biomechanics of Ski Jumping of Shanghai University of Sport" are printed on the body. For two consecutive winters, Liu Yu led the upper body research team to assist the athletes of the national team to complete a large number of scientific research support work in this small "mobile laboratory".
Liu Yu's scientific research team became the "third eye" of the coach. "For example, in the past, doctors relied on experience to diagnose and treat, and now they rely on scientific and technological diagnosis and treatment; coaches are like doctors, in the past, they mainly relied on experience training, and now we provide more scientific and technological means, so that coaches have another eye." Liu Yu introduced, "Real-time feedback three-dimensional motion capture, can provide data for coaches from multiple angles, and quantify the training session. For example, ski jumpers' ski speed, starting angle, body posture, left and right symmetry, etc., which used to rely on the experience of coaches, can now provide accurate and quantitative rapid feedback and technical diagnosis. This technology helps improve athlete performance. ”
This is the national key research and development plan "Science and Technology Winter Olympics" led by Professor Liu Yu, the key special project "Winter Project Athlete Skill Optimization Key Technology Research", relying on neuro-biomechanical empowerment technology, the first self-developed neural start wearable device and winter project athlete key technology optimization- evaluation-feedback system in China, which realizes the synchronous development of neural energy enhancement and training, and is among the forefront of similar technologies in the world. The high-level athlete movement optimization analysis system developed has improved the success rate of freestyle skiing aerial skills projects by about 15%. Asia's first high-speed dual-plane fluoroscopy imaging system and a portable optical six-degree-of-freedom joint function analysis system developed simultaneously can provide accurate damage protection design for athletes on the spot.
It is understood that the Shanghai Institute of Sport docks with the major strategic needs of the country, takes the special project of the national key research and development plan "Science and Technology Winter Olympics" as an opportunity, adheres to independent innovation and is good at absorbing advanced international technologies and training methods, and develops and completes the action optimization auxiliary system for winter project training such as ski jumping, alpine skiing, freestyle skiing aerial skills, U-shaped venue skills, speed skating, etc., and new training auxiliary equipment, which has improved the scientific level of training in winter projects in the mainland.