Refine
Departments, institutes and facilities
Document Type
- Article (11) (remove)
Language
- English (11)
Keywords
This paper explores the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in elite sports. We approach the topic from two perspectives. Firstly, we provide a literature based overview of AI success stories in areas other than sports. We identified multiple approaches in the area of Machine Perception, Machine Learning and Modeling, Planning and Optimization as well as Interaction and Intervention, holding a potential for improving training and competition. Secondly, we discover the present status of AI use in elite sports. Therefore, in addition to another literature review, we interviewed leading sports scientist, which are closely connected to the main national service institute for elite sports in their countries. The analysis of this literature review and the interviews show that the most activity is carried out in the methodical categories of signal and image processing. However, projects in the field of modeling & planning have become increasingly popular within the last years. Based on these two perspectives, we extract deficits, issues and opportunities and summarize them in six key challenges faced by the sports analytics community. These challenges include data collection, controllability of an AI by the practitioners and explainability of AI results.
In mathematical modeling by means of performance models, the Fitness-Fatigue Model (FF-Model) is a common approach in sport and exercise science to study the training performance relationship. The FF-Model uses an initial basic level of performance and two antagonistic terms (for fitness and fatigue). By model calibration, parameters are adapted to the subject’s individual physical response to training load. Although the simulation of the recorded training data in most cases shows useful results when the model is calibrated and all parameters are adjusted, this method has two major difficulties. First, a fitted value as basic performance will usually be too high. Second, without modification, the model cannot be simply used for prediction. By rewriting the FF-Model such that effects of former training history can be analyzed separately – we call those terms preload – it is possible to close the gap between a more realistic initial performance level and an athlete's actual performance level without distorting other model parameters and increase model accuracy substantially. Fitting error of the preload-extended FF-Model is less than 32% compared to the error of the FF-Model without preloads. Prediction error of the preload-extended FF-Model is around 54% of the error of the FF-Model without preloads.
This work addresses the issue of finding an optimal flight zone for a side-by-side tracking and following Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV) adhering to space-restricting factors brought upon by a dynamic Vector Field Extraction (VFE) algorithm. The VFE algorithm demands a relatively perpendicular field of view of the UAV to the tracked vehicle, thereby enforcing the space-restricting factors which are distance, angle and altitude. The objective of the UAV is to perform side-by-side tracking and following of a lightweight ground vehicle while acquiring high quality video of tufts attached to the side of the tracked vehicle. The recorded video is supplied to the VFE algorithm that produces the positions and deformations of the tufts over time as they interact with the surrounding air, resulting in an airflow model of the tracked vehicle. The present limitations of wind tunnel tests and computational fluid dynamics simulation suggest the use of a UAV for real world evaluation of the aerodynamic properties of the vehicle’s exterior. The novelty of the proposed approach is alluded to defining the specific flight zone restricting factors while adhering to the VFE algorithm, where as a result we were capable of formalizing a locally-static and a globally-dynamic geofence attached to the tracked vehicle and enclosing the UAV.
The use of wearable devices or “wearables” in the physical activity domain has been increasing in the last years. These devices are used as training tools providing the user with detailed information about individual physiological responses and feedback to the physical training process. Advantages in sensor technology, miniaturization, energy consumption and processing power increased the usability of these wearables. Furthermore, available sensor technologies must be reliable, valid, and usable. Considering the variety of the existing sensors not all of them are suitable to be integrated in wearables. The application and development of wearables has to consider the characteristics of the physical training process to improve the effectiveness and efficiency as training tools. During physical training, it is essential to elicit individual optimal strain to evoke the desired adjustments to training. One important goal is to neither overstrain nor under challenge the user. Many wearables use heart rate as indicator for this individual strain. However, due to a variety of internal and external influencing factors, heart rate kinetics are highly variable making it difficult to control the stress eliciting individually optimal strain. For optimal training control it is essential to model and predict individual responses and adapt the external stress if necessary. Basis for this modeling is the valid and reliable recording of these individual responses. Depending on the heart rate kinetics and the obtained physiological data, different models and techniques are available that can be used for strain or training control. Aim of this review is to give an overview of measurement, prediction, and control of individual heart rate responses. Therefore, available sensor technologies measuring the individual heart rate responses are analyzed and approaches to model and predict these individual responses discussed. Additionally, the feasibility for wearables is analyzed.
Design optimization techniques are often used at the beginning of the design process to explore the space of possible designs. In these domains illumination algorithms, such as MAP-Elites, are promising alternatives to classic optimization algorithms because they produce diverse, high-quality solutions in a single run, instead of only a single near-optimal solution. Unfortunately, these algorithms currently require a large number of function evaluations, limiting their applicability. In this article we introduce a new illumination algorithm, Surrogate-Assisted Illumination (SAIL), that leverages surrogate modeling techniques to create a map of the design space according to user-defined features while minimizing the number of fitness evaluations. On a two-dimensional airfoil optimization problem SAIL produces hundreds of diverse but high-performing designs with several orders of magnitude fewer evaluations than MAP-Elites or CMA-ES. We demonstrate that SAIL is also capable of producing maps of high-performing designs in realistic three-dimensional aerodynamic tasks with an accurate flow simulation. Data-efficient design exploration with SAIL can help designers understand what is possible, beyond what is optimal, by considering more than pure objective-based optimization.