#Staff Column
2022.12.01
Seamlessly adopted semi-automated technologies
Columnist | Introducing the columns written by member of Amorepacific Group
Sensor and cosmetics Part 4. Seamlessly adopted semi-automated
technologies
technologies
Columnist | Seo Jeongeun
Amorepacific R&D Strategy Lab
Amorepacific R&D Strategy Lab
# INTRO
The 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar began with BTS’s Jungkook stealing the opening show with his one-of-a-kind performance. And guess what else drew the attention of global soccer fans? The Al Rihla Pro ball with built-in sensors. It never ceases to amaze me how the long-standing sports event proactively embraces new technologies in the games. What especially caught my attention in this football tournament was how these new technologies were adopted.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar began with BTS’s Jungkook stealing the opening show with his one-of-a-kind performance. And guess what else drew the attention of global soccer fans? The Al Rihla Pro ball with built-in sensors. It never ceases to amaze me how the long-standing sports event proactively embraces new technologies in the games. What especially caught my attention in this football tournament was how these new technologies were adopted.
Semi-Automated Offside Technology (SAOT)
The world was waiting for football
but first she got poetry.
Football went slowly
in the sky.
Now you saw
that the grandstand was occupied.
The poet stood alone in the gate.
But the referee whistled: offside.
Night Stadium by Günter Grass
but first she got poetry.
Football went slowly
in the sky.
Now you saw
that the grandstand was occupied.
The poet stood alone in the gate.
But the referee whistled: offside.
Night Stadium by Günter Grass
Offside is judged when the attacker in the opposing team’s half of the field receives the ball from his teammate in front of the opposing team’s defender. This is one of the hardest offenses to judge in the game of soccer. As the offense takes place in the passing second, it has always been the subject of bad calls, leading to the official adoption of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in the 2016 FIFA Club World Cup and in the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia. Even so, the VAR left too much room for interpretation as the offside line was manually set by its human counterpart, and the 50-fps camera was not enough to precisely catch the moment the ball touched the foot. In addition, VAR-assisted calls often took up a lot of time, interfering with the flow of the game.
＜An assistant referee calls an offside offense, and the forever-controversial VAR offside line＞
In order to tackle this problem, FIFA introduced the Semi-Automated Offside Technology (SAOT) in the FIFA World Cup Qatar. The SAOT, jointly developed over the course of three years by the MIT Sports Lab, the ETH Zurich, and the University of Victoria in Canada, automatically provides the data of each sensor, which then requires the judgment of the referee in charge of reviewing the VAR, hence the name ‘semi-automated.’ The three main technologies employed in the SAOT are as follows:
(1) Cutting-edge tracking technology: the 12 tracking cameras under the roof of the stadium monitor the motion of the ball and the players.
(2) Human-motion recognition technology: the movement of joints of each player is identified on 29 data points. The data is sent to the VAR control room immediately when a part of the body crosses the offside line, without having to attach separate sensors on the players’ bodies.
(3) IMU/UWB sensor technology: at the core of the Al Rihla Pro Ball, meaning ‘journey’ in Arabic, are an inertial measurement unit (IMU) that traces even the slightest of movements, as well as an ultra-wideband (UWB) sensor which transmits data more precisely than GPS or Bluetooth. The two sensors check the movement of the ball at the frequency of 500 times a second and send the data to the VAR control room, helping the referee pinpoint the of kicks. Even when the ball is replaced during a game, its back-end system fetches the data of the new ball without requiring human interception. When fully charged wirelessly, the sensors can work for up to 6 hours, allowing the ball to transmit data for the entire duration of the game.
＜Designed by KINEXON, the Al Rihla has a 14g set of sensors in its core＞
Even with advanced technologies,
we still need our human referees
we still need our human referees
Even with the increasing number of technologies that are being implemented in the World Cup, the games themselves do not appear dramatically different from those of the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea-Japan. This is because the technologies are subtly hidden inside the ball, along the roof of the stadium, or in the form of wireless networks. The motion recognition technology, which has eliminated the need for attaching sensors to the bodies of the players, is something I personally find impressive. Another interesting aspect is how these semi-automated technologies leave the final call in the hands of human referees, rather than completely relying on automated AI technologies (and yes, this may be because such technologies still require more work). In the end, how these technologies are implemented is determined by ‘what we wish to pursue.’ We are required to preserve the essence of the sports while smartly leveraging the technologies without inciting a sense of aversion by adopting anything “cutting-edge.”
Seamlessly adopted semi-automated technologies
Just as the World Cup implemented a set of new technologies to tackle the forever-controversial offside calls, I hope to closely survey the everyday concerns of our customers so that we may develop technologies that seamlessly embed themselves into the lives of our customers. The implementation of such technologies shall be done in a “semi-automated” manner, by subtly and effortlessly satisfying the needs of our customers even before they are aware of them.
Let me end by saying, Go Team Korea!
Let me end by saying, Go Team Korea!
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