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features

In conversation: Toni Knowlson, Amazon Web Services

The digital innovation lead at Amazon Web Services, Australia and New Zealand, talks to Steph Eaves about smart balls, Formula 1 and fan engagement

Published in Fit Tech 2020 issue 1

How is Amazon Web Services changing the sports industry?
Amazon Web Services is working closely with local and global sporting organisations that are using AWS cloud, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML) technologies to reimagine the sporting experience, deepen fan engagement, and achieve meaningful data insights to help athletes perform better.

In Australia, there are already promising examples of young local companies using AWS to innovate. Working from his garage, the owner of Queensland-based Sportcor, Ben Tattersfield, used AWS cloud to create a smart ball concept that can be used for cricket, golf and athletics and which displays useful details, including its spin and speed during play.

Tattersfield’s company is also planning to roll out its technology for other ball sports such as netball and rugby, as well as integrating it into equipment, such as helmets.

AWS also powers the data-driven sport of Formula 1 racing. During each race, 120 sensors on each car generate 3GB of data, and 1,500 data points are generated each second. Using our ML technology, Amazon SageMaker, Formula 1’s data scientists are able to train deep-learning models, which learn from 65 years of historical race data, to extract critical race performance statistics, make race predictions, and give fans an insight into the split-second decisions and strategies adopted by all the teams and drivers.

By streaming real-time race data to AWS using Amazon Kinesis, Formula 1 is able to capture and process key performance data for each car during every twist and turn of the race circuits. Then, by deploying advanced machine learning via Amazon SageMaker, Formula 1 can pinpoint exactly how a driver is performing and whether or not any drivers have pushed themselves over the limit. By sharing these insights through television broadcasts and digital platforms, Formula 1 is giving fans access to the inner workings of their favourite teams and drivers.

Is AWS working on any exciting new projects?
We’re working with Swimming Australia to identify innovation opportunities by leveraging big data technologies to collect, analyse, and share data, that can then be used to drive new projects that will bring swimmers, fans, and the community closer to the race action.

With AWS, Swimming Australia aims to optimise athlete performance at critical junctures of the race, create new swimming meet formats, connect the national tribe of swimmers to better identify talent, and provide more meaningful fan experiences.

How is tech changing the experience of sport – both for athletes and fans?
The emergence of cloud technology has helped drive faster adoption and real-world use of AI and ML technologies. Data analytics is definitely changing the way fans are consuming the sporting experience. Customers can integrate AWS AI and ML technologies into their applications now without having to purchase expensive, high performance technology hardware, and can get started in minutes, with no long-term commitments, and only pay for what they use.

For example, the NFL is working with AWS to power its player tracking programme, which is called Next Gen Stats (NGS). It uses sophisticated tracking technology collected via RFID devices in the shoulder pads of every player and embedded at each of its stadiums. These devices capture data about which players are on the field at a given moment, their location to within inches, and the speed and direction in which they move. This treasure trove of data represents a tremendous resource for the league’s 32 teams, multiple media partners and approximately 180 million fans worldwide.

Powered by Amazon SageMaker, the NGS platform allows the NFL to quickly and easily create and deploy ML models capable of interpreting gameplay. One example is NGS’s Completion Probability metric, which integrates more than 10 in-play measurements, ranging from the length and velocity of a specific pass to the distance between the receiver and the closest defenders – as well as the quarterback and nearest pass rushers.

Using Amazon SageMaker to build, train and run these predictive models helped reduce the time it takes to get to results by as much as 12 hours down to 30 minutes. The results help fans understand why some passing plays are more difficult than others and provide a more meaningful understanding of the game itself. These insights can quickly be used by the NFL and its media partners to enhance broadcasts and online content, or even to educate and excite fans inside the stadium.

Additionally, the NFL can then take these insights and apply them to different parts of the organisation, helping coaches create better game plans and finding ways to improve player safety.

Tell us about your work with Kayo
Kayo is offering new kinds of viewing experiences, such as personalised live streaming and video catch-up functionality, using AWS services – including AWS Elemental Live encoding and Amazon CloudFront.

For example, Kayo SplitView offers up to four events or camera angles on one screen on selected devices, while Kayo Key Moments captures highlights from matches, so sports fans can get straight to the action they want to watch.

Kayo provides a new way for Australians to experience sport, offering over 30,000 hours of content and game-changing features, with more than 50 sports events steamed instantly from Australia and other countries for viewing on iOS and Android mobile devices, laptops and PCs, and on TVs with Telstra TV, Apple TV and Chromecast Ultra apps.

The Kayo network is powered by Fox Sports Australia, ESPN, and beIN Sports.
What will sport look like in the future?
The future of sports will increasingly be more data-driven and powered by cloud technologies. With fans becoming more digitally connected, they want to be the first to be in on the action, follow their favourite teams, and consume sports from anywhere and on any device.

Cloud technologies provide the scalability to stream events live or host heavy data workloads and draw actionable insights through analytics.

Where can this technology take us?
We see this technology as an enabler in improving customer outcomes and ensuring sporting organisations remain relevant.

We’re entering a golden age of AI and ML and believe AI will revolutionise almost all aspects of technology – making it easier to do things that currently take considerable time and effort, such as deriving data insights to increase fan engagement and enhancing athlete performance.

It can also power everything from personalisation, language understanding, and computer vision, to big ideas like self-driving cars.

The cloud has spurred researchers and developers to experiment with new algorithms in deep learning and we’ll see advances in reinforcement learning and the auto-tuning of models across a wide variety of domains, even beyond the sporting arena.

Sign up here to get Fit Tech's weekly ezine and every issue of Fit Tech magazine free on digital.
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Users can easily identify which facilities in the UK are accessible to the disabled community
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We want to give our users an implantable tool that allows them to collect their health data at any time and in any setting
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We created a solution called AiT Voice, which turns digital data into a spoken audio timetable that connects to phone systems
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Sam Cole, CEO of FitXR, talks to Fit Tech about taking digital workouts to the next level, with an immersive, virtual reality fitness club
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Sohail Rashid

My vision was to create a platform that could improve the sport for lifters at all levels and attract more people, similar to how Strava, Peloton and Zwift have in other sports
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Many apps help people track their health, but Humanity founders Peter Ward and Michael Geer have put the focus on ageing, to help users to see the direct repercussions of their habits. They talk to Steph Eaves
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Workout Anytime created its app in partnership with Virtuagym. Workout Anytime’s Greg Maurer and Virtuagym’s Hugo Braam explain the process behind its creation
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Physical activity monitors boost activity levels

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Content providers have been hugely active in the fit tech market since the start of the pandemic. We expect the industry to move on from delivering these services on a ‘broadcast-only’ basis as two-way coaching becomes the new USP
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Laurent Petit

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The future of sports and fitness are dependent on the climate. Our goal is to positively influence the future of our planet by instilling a global vision of wellbeing and a sense of collective action
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Adam Zeitsiff

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We don’t just create the technology and bail – we support our clients’ ongoing hybridisation efforts
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Anantharaman Pattabiraman

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features

In conversation: Toni Knowlson, Amazon Web Services

The digital innovation lead at Amazon Web Services, Australia and New Zealand, talks to Steph Eaves about smart balls, Formula 1 and fan engagement

Published in Fit Tech 2020 issue 1

How is Amazon Web Services changing the sports industry?
Amazon Web Services is working closely with local and global sporting organisations that are using AWS cloud, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML) technologies to reimagine the sporting experience, deepen fan engagement, and achieve meaningful data insights to help athletes perform better.

In Australia, there are already promising examples of young local companies using AWS to innovate. Working from his garage, the owner of Queensland-based Sportcor, Ben Tattersfield, used AWS cloud to create a smart ball concept that can be used for cricket, golf and athletics and which displays useful details, including its spin and speed during play.

Tattersfield’s company is also planning to roll out its technology for other ball sports such as netball and rugby, as well as integrating it into equipment, such as helmets.

AWS also powers the data-driven sport of Formula 1 racing. During each race, 120 sensors on each car generate 3GB of data, and 1,500 data points are generated each second. Using our ML technology, Amazon SageMaker, Formula 1’s data scientists are able to train deep-learning models, which learn from 65 years of historical race data, to extract critical race performance statistics, make race predictions, and give fans an insight into the split-second decisions and strategies adopted by all the teams and drivers.

By streaming real-time race data to AWS using Amazon Kinesis, Formula 1 is able to capture and process key performance data for each car during every twist and turn of the race circuits. Then, by deploying advanced machine learning via Amazon SageMaker, Formula 1 can pinpoint exactly how a driver is performing and whether or not any drivers have pushed themselves over the limit. By sharing these insights through television broadcasts and digital platforms, Formula 1 is giving fans access to the inner workings of their favourite teams and drivers.

Is AWS working on any exciting new projects?
We’re working with Swimming Australia to identify innovation opportunities by leveraging big data technologies to collect, analyse, and share data, that can then be used to drive new projects that will bring swimmers, fans, and the community closer to the race action.

With AWS, Swimming Australia aims to optimise athlete performance at critical junctures of the race, create new swimming meet formats, connect the national tribe of swimmers to better identify talent, and provide more meaningful fan experiences.

How is tech changing the experience of sport – both for athletes and fans?
The emergence of cloud technology has helped drive faster adoption and real-world use of AI and ML technologies. Data analytics is definitely changing the way fans are consuming the sporting experience. Customers can integrate AWS AI and ML technologies into their applications now without having to purchase expensive, high performance technology hardware, and can get started in minutes, with no long-term commitments, and only pay for what they use.

For example, the NFL is working with AWS to power its player tracking programme, which is called Next Gen Stats (NGS). It uses sophisticated tracking technology collected via RFID devices in the shoulder pads of every player and embedded at each of its stadiums. These devices capture data about which players are on the field at a given moment, their location to within inches, and the speed and direction in which they move. This treasure trove of data represents a tremendous resource for the league’s 32 teams, multiple media partners and approximately 180 million fans worldwide.

Powered by Amazon SageMaker, the NGS platform allows the NFL to quickly and easily create and deploy ML models capable of interpreting gameplay. One example is NGS’s Completion Probability metric, which integrates more than 10 in-play measurements, ranging from the length and velocity of a specific pass to the distance between the receiver and the closest defenders – as well as the quarterback and nearest pass rushers.

Using Amazon SageMaker to build, train and run these predictive models helped reduce the time it takes to get to results by as much as 12 hours down to 30 minutes. The results help fans understand why some passing plays are more difficult than others and provide a more meaningful understanding of the game itself. These insights can quickly be used by the NFL and its media partners to enhance broadcasts and online content, or even to educate and excite fans inside the stadium.

Additionally, the NFL can then take these insights and apply them to different parts of the organisation, helping coaches create better game plans and finding ways to improve player safety.

Tell us about your work with Kayo
Kayo is offering new kinds of viewing experiences, such as personalised live streaming and video catch-up functionality, using AWS services – including AWS Elemental Live encoding and Amazon CloudFront.

For example, Kayo SplitView offers up to four events or camera angles on one screen on selected devices, while Kayo Key Moments captures highlights from matches, so sports fans can get straight to the action they want to watch.

Kayo provides a new way for Australians to experience sport, offering over 30,000 hours of content and game-changing features, with more than 50 sports events steamed instantly from Australia and other countries for viewing on iOS and Android mobile devices, laptops and PCs, and on TVs with Telstra TV, Apple TV and Chromecast Ultra apps.

The Kayo network is powered by Fox Sports Australia, ESPN, and beIN Sports.
What will sport look like in the future?
The future of sports will increasingly be more data-driven and powered by cloud technologies. With fans becoming more digitally connected, they want to be the first to be in on the action, follow their favourite teams, and consume sports from anywhere and on any device.

Cloud technologies provide the scalability to stream events live or host heavy data workloads and draw actionable insights through analytics.

Where can this technology take us?
We see this technology as an enabler in improving customer outcomes and ensuring sporting organisations remain relevant.

We’re entering a golden age of AI and ML and believe AI will revolutionise almost all aspects of technology – making it easier to do things that currently take considerable time and effort, such as deriving data insights to increase fan engagement and enhancing athlete performance.

It can also power everything from personalisation, language understanding, and computer vision, to big ideas like self-driving cars.

The cloud has spurred researchers and developers to experiment with new algorithms in deep learning and we’ll see advances in reinforcement learning and the auto-tuning of models across a wide variety of domains, even beyond the sporting arena.

Sign up here to get Fit Tech's weekly ezine and every issue of Fit Tech magazine free on digital.
Gallery
More features
Editor's letter

Into the fitaverse

Fitness is already among the top three markets in the metaverse, with new technology and partnerships driving real growth and consumer engagement that looks likely to spill over into health clubs, gyms and studios
Fit Tech people

Ali Jawad

Paralympic powerlifter and founder, Accessercise
Users can easily identify which facilities in the UK are accessible to the disabled community
Fit Tech people

Hannes Sjöblad

MD, DSruptive
We want to give our users an implantable tool that allows them to collect their health data at any time and in any setting
Fit Tech people

Jamie Buck

Co-founder, Active in Time
We created a solution called AiT Voice, which turns digital data into a spoken audio timetable that connects to phone systems
Profile

Fahad Alhagbani: reinventing fitness

Let’s live in the future to improve today
Opinion

Building on the blockchain

For small sports teams looking to compete with giants, blockchain can be a secret weapon explains Lars Rensing, CEO of Protokol
Innovation

Bold move

Our results showed a greater than 60 per cent reduction in falls for individuals who actively participated in Bold’s programme
App analysis

Check your form

Sency’s motion analysis technology is allowing users to check their technique as they exercise. Co-founder and CEO Gal Rotman explains how
Profile

New reality

Sam Cole, CEO of FitXR, talks to Fit Tech about taking digital workouts to the next level, with an immersive, virtual reality fitness club
Profile

Sohail Rashid

My vision was to create a platform that could improve the sport for lifters at all levels and attract more people, similar to how Strava, Peloton and Zwift have in other sports
Ageing

Reverse Ageing

Many apps help people track their health, but Humanity founders Peter Ward and Michael Geer have put the focus on ageing, to help users to see the direct repercussions of their habits. They talk to Steph Eaves
App analysis

Going hybrid

Workout Anytime created its app in partnership with Virtuagym. Workout Anytime’s Greg Maurer and Virtuagym’s Hugo Braam explain the process behind its creation
Research

Physical activity monitors boost activity levels

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have conducted a meta analysis of all relevant research and found that the body of evidence shows an impact
Editor's letter

Two-way coaching

Content providers have been hugely active in the fit tech market since the start of the pandemic. We expect the industry to move on from delivering these services on a ‘broadcast-only’ basis as two-way coaching becomes the new USP
Fit Tech People

Laurent Petit

Co-founder, Active Giving
The future of sports and fitness are dependent on the climate. Our goal is to positively influence the future of our planet by instilling a global vision of wellbeing and a sense of collective action
Fit Tech People

Adam Zeitsiff

CEO, Intelivideo
We don’t just create the technology and bail – we support our clients’ ongoing hybridisation efforts
Fit Tech People

Anantharaman Pattabiraman

CEO and co-founder, Auro
When you’re undertaking fitness activities, unless you’re on a stationary bike, in most cases it’s not safe or necessary to be tied to a screen, especially a small screen
Fit Tech People

Mike Hansen

Managing partner, Endorphinz
We noticed a big gap in the market – customers needed better insights but also recommendations on what to do, whether that be customer acquisition, content creation, marketing and more
More features