CNN —
For visually impaired sports fans in stadiums around the world, watching a game often means relying on commentators and bystanders to provide commentary on the game. Now, Irish startups are aiming to create a more level playing field.
Dublin-based Field of Vision has developed a handheld haptic feedback device. It will help visually impaired and partially sighted fans not only hear but also “feel” the action, improving the live experience.
Custom-built cameras installed in each corner of the stadium use artificial intelligence (AI) to track key details of the match. Within about half a second, this information is transmitted to a white tablet-sized device embossed with the shape of a sports field. The device weighs less than 1 kilogram and sits on the user’s lap.
A small magnetic ring guides the user’s finger across the tablet based on the location of the ball, similar to movements on a Ouija board, and vibrates to signal various match events such as tackles and changes of possession.
The device is designed to enhance audio commentary rather than completely replace it, and includes a built-in headphone jack to allow users to access audio commentary if the stadium is providing a feed. I am.
“The main feedback we got[on this device]was that it made you feel like you were actually a part of the game and that you were experiencing the game with everyone else.” Vision co-founder David Denneher told CNN. .
Mr Denneher was looking for something to fill his time during the coronavirus lockdown, so in 2020 he turned to two friends, Tim Farrelly, a student at Trinity College Dublin, and Omar, a student at Queen’s University Belfast. He started this business with Salem.
Salem, an aerospace engineering graduate, first came up with the idea after seeing social media footage of Liverpool supporter Mike Carney, who has low vision. On the terrace of English Premier League giants Anfield Stadium, Carney’s cousin Steven Garcia stood next to Carney and discussed the match.
According to the Royal National Institute for Blind People (RNIB), 320,000 people in the UK alone are registered as visually impaired or partially sighted, and there are an estimated 43 million visually impaired people worldwide. technology has the potential to improve the live sports experience across a wide range of areas. fan.
Declan Mina, a supporter of Dublin football club Bohemians, was born with an eye condition that limits his vision to 5%. Even though Mina sits in the front row behind the goal at her team’s Dalymount Park stadium, she can’t see past the crossbar.
Club volunteers provide commentary for visually impaired spectators, who can follow the match through earphones, but the loud crowd can cause them to miss important lines.
He said testing runs using the Field Of Vision tablet added a new level of context to proceedings on the pitch.
“It’s just a game changer to actually feel where the football is and what’s going on,” he told CNN.
“It helps a lot because you get a two-dimensional understanding of where the ball is on the pitch and how it moves. You can actually feel that things are moving very fast, which is really good. That’s it.”
Field of Vision was runner-up for the James Dyson Award, an international student design award, in 2021 and is included in Time magazine’s list of the best inventions of 2022. In June this year, we won the award for Best Initiative to Promote Inclusion and Physical Activity at the International Exhibition in Ireland. Sports Industry Award.
The company has raised around €250,000 in funding, much of it through a business accelerator program, with grants and prizes won from various competitions also injecting cash.
The founders were guided by sports industry executive Tom Sears, who tested the technology at the Bohemian Stadium, which has a capacity of less than 5,000 people, before last year he introduced it at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium. Helped arrange early prototype testing. 50,000 fans. As part of the trial, the device was used by three season ticket holders at seven of the club’s home matches.
This provided ideal preparation for the full-scale rollout at the approximately 53,000-capacity Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia. Marvel Stadium is home to five teams in Australian Rules Football, a sport entirely different from soccer.
After the 2024 season ended in September, cameras were installed in the stadium and AI was retrained to record details of matches on the oval pitch. Marvel Stadium will provide 40 devices for every match played there during next year’s Australian Football League (AFL) season.
The ability to reprogram devices for sports very different from soccer suggests a future for the business that could expand far beyond the field of soccer.
“Longer term, we want to expand to all major sports around the world so that this becomes just the standard within the infrastructure of stadiums and live venues,” Denneher said.
Field of Vision is currently in the process of selling the product to soccer teams in Europe’s top five leagues (England, Spain, France, Germany, and Italy), and Denneher plans to begin selling it to the U.S. market. He said there were also “immediate plans” in place. And expand further with AFL.
Clubs will pay an annual contract fee for the AI model, camera and match streaming service, as well as an annual lease fee for the tablet.
Denneher chose a subscription-based model rather than a one-time purchase of the system to allow for the possibility that the number of visually impaired fans could fluctuate from season to season and to allow devices to be replaced during repairs. He explained.
The price is still being finalized and will depend on each club’s respective demand and stadium size. He added that while the technology may be perceived as a luxury for now, it could one day become as commonplace as a wheelchair ramp.
“We just want to make soccer and live sports more accessible to everyone,” Denneher said. “Therefore, we plan to expand to more stadiums, more countries and more sports in the future.”