Who: USA Surfing, Microsoft Azure, FTA, and Microsoft AI Developer Accelerator Program
USA Surfing, the official national federation for surfing in the United States, has embarked on a unique collaboration with Microsoft Azure, Cognitive Services for Vision, the Microsoft AI Developer Accelerator Program, and FTA. This collaboration aims to leverage AI technology to improve athlete performance and reduce injuries, bringing quantitative data analysis to a traditionally subjective sport.
What: AI-driven insights for surf performance enhancement
USA Surfing utilizes Azure’s AI capabilities to analyze surfing videos uploaded by coaches and athletes. These videos are processed to produce valuable insights on the surfer, their surfboard, and the environmental conditions. Such insights are achieved by studying the compression of the body, dynamic factors, and measuring angles between body joints during surf maneuvers. The end goal is to assist coaches in providing useful feedback that enhances performance and minimizes injury risks.
Before: A momentum built on Olympic success
Prior to this collaboration, USA Surfing’s focus has always been to promote growth, competitive success, and the benefits of the surfing lifestyle in the United States. The federation made a mark in history when Team USA’s Carissa Moore bagged the first-ever Olympic Gold Medal for surfing in the 2021 Olympics. The win provided the U.S. an additional spot for a third woman competitor in the 2024 Olympics, sparking momentum that set the stage for the AI project.
The process: A unique collaboration and AI integration
The partnership between Microsoft and USA Surfing took root from a hackathon, aiming to utilize AI to bolster performance and decrease injuries for athletes. The team employed a single land camera to capture surfers in motion, analyzing strengths and weaknesses in their body position and movement patterns.
The solution developed by the team employs advanced vision action recognition, action detection, containerization, and a graph-based multi-model AI/ML architecture. When a user uploads a surfing video to a web interface, the Azure-hosted backend leverages the new Archon platform to generate AI-produced insights and analysis.
After: Improving performance and preventing injuries
This innovative solution’s benefits align with the original goals of the hackathon: to enhance performance and reduce injuries. The AI-generated insights include data on the surfer’s stance, coil, torque, wave shape, and critical sections. They also include metrics related to the surfboard’s shape and volume, maneuver detection, and more.
Coaches, athletes, and sports medicine teams can analyze and compare key variables such as speed, power, and flow for improved performance and track movements that could potentially cause injuries. This groundbreaking approach to providing real-time data and insights could change the way the sport is played and coached.
Conclusion: Propelling surfing into the AI and Olympics era
As USA Surfing prepares for the next summer Olympic Games, it will employ Microsoft Azure AI and the Motion Insights framework. Microsoft and USA Surfing will continue to expand the maneuvers that the tool can capture, aiding surfers in their skill development through technology. This innovation exemplifies how AI can revolutionize traditionally subjective sports by bringing in quantitative data for performance enhancement.
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