In Hall 4 of the Paris South Arena, the women's table tennis team final of the Paris Olympics, the Chinese team composed of Chen Meng, Sun Yingsha and Wang Manyu defeated the Japanese team to win the gold medal, achieving five consecutive Olympic championships. This is the 37th gold medal won by the Chinese sports delegation in this Olympics and the 300th gold medal won by the Chinese sports delegation in the Summer Olympics.
In table tennis matches, AI technology brought new surprises. With the assistance of AI technology, the trajectory, landing point, rotation direction, and rotation speed of a 40mm diameter table tennis ball are clearly visible; the arrows are captured accurately and rapidly by AI, from the moment of leaving the string, to the trajectory of cutting through the air, and then hitting the target. Every detail is restored one by one.
All these "famous scenes" come from the InnoMotion sports event AI product which independently developed by SMT, a subsidiary of SMG. This is also the first time in the history of the Olympic Games that AI technology has been applied to the production of international public feeds for table tennis and archery events.
More than just enjoying the excitement
During the 8th Summer Olympics held in Paris in 1924, the form of live broadcasting expanded the audience range of the event. A hundred years later, the venue of the Summer Olympics returned to Paris again. The transformation of live broadcasting technology has brought new vitality to the classic sports event.
From AI to 5G networks, from UHD video production to cloud broadcasting... the widespread application of innovative technologies has not only changed the way how sports broadcasts, but also given viewers a more personalized and immersive viewing experience. The conclusion of the Olympic table tennis event also means the successful ending of SMT's participation in the data collection and virtual presentation of the table tennis and archery events at the Paris Olympics.
InnoMotion sports AI products which developed by SMT provided global audiences with a more intuitive and technological viewing experience at the Paris Olympics, demonstrating the strength of Chinese technology and intelligent manufacturing.
During the Olympic Games, archery, table tennis enthusiasts and spectators at the scene and in front of the TV were pleasantly surprised to find that with the support of AI technology, the trajectory, landing point and rotation direction of a table tennis ball with a diameter of only 40 mm were clearly visible; The arrows were accurately captured by AI, and every detail was restored one by one from the moment the arrow left the string, to the trajectory of cutting through the air, and finally hitting the target. Especially in the slow-motion playback of the international public feed production, the real-time broadcast images, which are supported by China's scientific and technological strength, present intuitive and accurate data and trajectories, and have been highly praised by the audience and the director.
How is all this achieved? In the table tennis match in Hall 4 of the South Paris Arena, multiple high-speed cameras are set up above the No. 1 table and on the stands on both sides to capture the speed, rotation, landing point and trajectory of the table tennis ball. Moreover, there are many positioning stickers on the ceiling to ensure the real-time positioning of the trajectory of the table tennis ball. After the game started, this set of equipment ran at high speed and provided an immersive viewing experience to global audiences through AI big data models, making the originally dazzling table tennis events more intuitive, and more entertaining and scientific.
As the head of the SMT Mixed Reality Studio, Gu Lihua, who has been working in Paris for nearly a month, explained the relevant technical principles. He introduced that "InnoMotion event broadcasting solution" is used in the broadcasting of the Olympic table tennis and archery competitions. Through 3D non-sensing motion capture technology, the speed and direction of each ball can be collected in real time. It can also locate and trace the speed and direction data of table tennis in real time based on the AR (augmented reality) visualization system, and combined with the slow-motion playback system, the speed and direction of table tennis can be presented in the ultra-high-speed playback screen, allowing the audience to see the "mystery" that could not be seen in the previous event broadcasts.
Ling Chen, deputy general manager of SMT, introduced that this is the first time that this domestic sports event AI product has been successfully applied to the international public feed broadcasting of table tennis and archery events. It is also the first time in the history of the Olympic Games that AI technology has been applied to the production of international public feed for table tennis and archer. This marks another historic leap in the technological research and development and application of Shanghai media in the Olympic journey.
Participating in the Olympic live broadcast for the fourth time to show Shanghai's strength
In addition to artificial intelligence technology, the Shanghai technical team who involved in the production of the Olympic broadcast also introduced a large-scale 4K cloud broadcast system (Cube) that can be flexibly expanded for the first time into the tasks of public feed production, broadcast technical support, interviews, and program creation for the Olympic Games. With more stable, agile, flexible and cost-effective products and equipment, the team provided a higher level of technical support services for the Paris Olympic Games and provided more possibilities for the audience to watch the Olympics in a "fancy" way.
