Use of Artificial Intelligence on Sports Biomechanics

Introduction of Biomechanics 

Before delving into the Sports Biomechanics, let's first find out about what Biomechanics exactly is :

Biomechanics is the study of the mechanical aspects of living organisms, including humans. It involves applying principles of physics and engineering to understand how the body moves, how forces act upon it, and how various structures within the body function. Biomechanics is a multidisciplinary field that combines elements of biology, physics, engineering, and mathematics to analyze and explain various biological phenomena. Biomechanics has a wide range of applications and is used in sports science, physical therapy, orthopedics, ergonomics, and various areas of medical research. Researchers in biomechanics use advanced technologies such as motion capture systems, force sensors, computational modeling, and imaging techniques to gather data and analyze the mechanics of living organisms. 

Introduction of Sports Biomechanics 

Sports biomechanics is a specialized branch of biomechanics that focuses on the application of mechanical principles to the study of human movement in sports and exercise. It plays a critical role in understanding and enhancing athletic performance, preventing injuries, and optimizing training regimens. This particular Biomechanics topic itself is very vast and has various sub topics within it. Sports Biomechanics can be applied to individuals analyze the movements of his/her body.

This article shows the development and use of ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) on Sports Biomechanics and the developments over the last decade and explore how AI is reshaping athletic performance, enhances skills, helps in the prevention of injury by tracking movements and analyze biomechanical data of the player to identify any movements that could lead to injury, And one thing needs to be clarified that AI in the field of sports not only limited in enhance of improve athletes performance. At the same time, It is also used to improve the view point of the sport, ensure the athletes protection and the fairness of the particular sport. In the dynamic world of sports, where precision and efficiency define success, Artificial Intelligence in sports biomechanics is a game-changer, AI has brought innovation and influence on the sports industry. The adoption of AI in sports biomechanics has  become prominent in recent years as new technologies and research applications showing positive impact on the professional sports. The benefits of AI can be seen in optimizing tactical and technical decision making to enhancing performance level of an individual or team which leads them to meet an extreme peak of the skills of the particular sport.

Now, let's discuss some research and surveys of the application of AI and the areas where they have some footprints and highly impacted in the field of sports biomechanics :

One of the earliest works, The use of Expert Systems in gait analysis (e.g. Bekey at al., 1992) suggest an extension to the analysis of sports technique but It remain almost unused in sports biomechanics and have found little place to date with gait analysis.AI  outlines possible uses of expert systems as distinctive tools for assessing faults in sports techniques. Expert Systems is an AI application that imitate human expertise in specific field. It is to stimulate the behavior of a human or organization that has some expertise, It comprise a knowledge base which contains specific knowledge and facts for the domain, an inference engine and a user interface. Expert system used in the analysis of fast bowling in cricket.

According to Lapham and Bartlett (1955). The paper shows how a knowledge-based database used for reasoning can also be used for sports biomechanics purposes as well.                                                                                                       Bartlett (2006) discussed developments in the use of AI in sports biomechanics to show that, expert systems were barely used in sports biomechanics than for gait analysis whereas  Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) were used for training performance pattern of athletes. It mimics the functions of human brain and also focusing on kohonen self- organizing maps, which have been the most widely used in technique analysis and multi-layer networks, which widely used in biomechanics in general. ANNs in sports biomechanics are used in shot putting, football kicking, javelin and discuss throwing. Other AI applications such as, Evolutionary Computation have received little attention, which optimizes skill learning and movement during soccer throw in.

 Some more uses of AI in sports :

•  AI algorithm are being used in Formula 1 race to enhance the racing technique and tactics and most of the F1 cars are equipped with 200 to 400 sensors.
• The Hawkeye (computer vision system), an Algorithm used in Tennis and Cricket.
• A judging system has been developed by Fujitsu Ltd. for Gymnastics in which the system uses AI 3D laser sensors to score based on the angles of the gymnast's joints.
• In recent years AI has done exceptional job in in board games and virtual games as well. games such as Chess, Chinese checkers and Chinese game of go, etc.
• For the out-of-bounds ball, the digital detection system used to improve the accuracy in the games like football, volleyball and other ball games for the better judgement.
• Rugby coaches also use AI to figure the correct technical and tactical ideas as  well as optimize training loads, and prevent overtraining.
• Artificial Intelligence helped Golden State Warriors win NBA championship as  they have been wearing high technology devises to determine fatigue, heart rate and leg strength of the player. Recently, According to New Yorker report    they developed new headset device, which can transmit pulse signal to improve muscle memory. 

 
Conclusion 

Artificial Intelligence has lead the way in a new era for sports biomechanics offering unrivaled and unusual insights into human movement and athletic performance. AI has driven achievements and has permeated every aspect of the sports industry from motion analysis, injury prevention to wearable technology and sports analytics The synergy between AI and sports biomechanics will certainly shape the sports trainers, coaches to athletes of sports industry and will continue to push the boundaries of human potential in athletic endeavors.   

Reference :


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3861744/

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspor.2021.682287/full

https://commons.clarku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?

article=1091&context=sps_masters_papers