Artificial intelligence deployed to enhance sports performance

Tagged Video with Dartfish Tracking © Dartfish - Researchers have teamed up with Dartfish and the Lausanne Hockey Club to push the boundaries of sports-performance analysis by applying computer vision and machine-learning technology to action on the ice. While there's no substitute for long hours of training, sports video analysis has become a must-have in the race for medals. Dartfish, an EPFL spin-off founded in 1999, specializes in precisely this field; its technology lets athletes and coaches in both individual and team sports re Dartfish's technology relies on an automated human-detection and tracking system. But maintaining high standards of accuracy and reliability is a challenge. That's where the researchers at EPFL's Visual Intelligence for Transportation laboratory (VITA) come into play. "We use cameras to detect, track and forecast human behaviors," says Alexandre Alahi, head of the VITA Lab. "Our cameras are placed on cars, in buildings - and now, sports arenas." Around a year ago, Alahi's research group teamed up with Dartfish on a project funded by Innosuisse, the Swiss Innovation Agency.