According to an article by SportTechie, KinaTrax, a markerless motion capture analytics company, will provide player biomechanics data for MLB teams in the 2020 season with mixed reality (MR). Their platform, KinaTrax AR, produces a skeletal recreation of pitches and swings, scales them to a real-life size, and overlays those recreations to analyze the differences in biomechanics data to improve player performances. KinaTrax currently works with four MLB clients: the Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox, and another that it declined to identify per the club’s wishes.
“It’s a new way to see the data,” said Javier Olaya, KinaTrax software engineer who led the platform’s development. “Right now, they see it in a two-dimensional way even though it’s a 3D software. Mixed reality is a new dimension, so they will be able to see it life-size and be able to see it from every angle.”
Typically, when capturing motion data, subjects need to have trackers placed on them, often taking form as white rubber balls or dots placed all over the body. However, KinaTrax is able to move past this step by employing the Magic Leap One, with the goal of supporting Microsoft’s HoloLens 2, as well. There are also plans to enhance KinaTrax AR with overlays of text and metrics that will include such information as joint angles. Alongside MR, KinaTrax CEO Steven Cadavid said his team eschewed virtual reality (VR) to allow the user to walk around the digital players in the app. The user can designate where home plate or the rubber is in whatever space the player is in. “It can be on actual mound or in your home,” Cadavid says. “You have the ability to walk around it safely.”
Next season, Cadavid said that KinaTrax will also offer in-game processing so players can visualize results within the same inning. Players will have a skeleton they can review in “near-real time” in exchange for reduced accuracy. The company is also working to livestream KinaTrax data to other locations, allowing coaches and trainers to keep tabs on their players’ health and performance while they play.
Performance data, like that used by web augmented reality (AR) developer 8th Wall, is often used across the entertainment industry and academia for experiments and animation workflows. However, using mixed reality to record analytical motion capture data has the potential to completely streamline the quantity and quality of data for organizations to work with.
