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Tech tracks individuals in a crowd
Ever lost track of your favorite player while watching the game on TV? That frustration could come to an end thanks to a new tracking technology that might also watch your moves at the shopping mall.
The technology involves multiple cameras and computer algorithms that detect players, predict their trajectories, and identify them based on their uniform color and the number on their shirt.
On the TV screen, the athletes are represented with a superimposed image bearing their jersey color and number, so that spectators along with referees and coaches can easily follow individuals without mixing them up even when they get buried under a pile of bodies or crouch behind another player.
This is all done without the aid of RFID chips or other gear that are prohibited by international sporting bodies.
The system was developed by researchers at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland and was unveiled today at the International Conference on Computer Vision in Barcelona. Team member Horesh Ben Shitrit describes how this all works in the video at the top of this post.
The technology is currently being used to track multiple basketball players in a world championship so that researchers can better understand their behavior. And studying behavior off the court also has appeal.
"Other applications, like tracking pedestrians to monitor traffic in an area, or following the movement of clients in a store for marketing purposes, are being planned," Ben Shitrit noted in a media release.
More stories on tracking technology:
- Phone tracking tech to reward walking, biking
- So your phone is tracking you? You asked for it
- Worried about your teen driver? There's an app for that
- Fort Campbell soldiers use virtual tracking technology in training
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