Head has introduced a tracking system for pádel play. Called Aiball (artificial intelligence ball), it combines a smartphone app with court-mounted cameras, and therefore with the cooperation of the pádel clubs.
The app tracks a number of statistics: seconds per point, average hits per point, percentage of time spent per court zone (volley, transition, back), time spent in horizontal and vertical coverage, percentage of time spent in doubles in horizontal and in vertical coverage, shot distribution, percentage of shots that oblige the opponent to move 2 meters for a return, percentage of fair first serves, serve speed and shot variety. The app also produces a video summary of every match and offers an AI coach.
A billion calculations per hour
The system analyzes 25 900,000-pixel frames per second, performing 8 million calculations over that span. By Head’s reckoning, a match of an hour and a half represents a billion calculations.
According to Head, all processing of images and statistics is anonymous and unlinked to any person or identity. “You will be the one to identify yourself among the players, and only you will have your statistics,” says the bot on Aiball’s website. “You can erase your data and accounts whenever you like.”
The system was developed with the help of a top pádel player, Ariana Sánchez Fallada. Her coach, Ángel González, who is a coach at Head as well, “leads” the system’s virtual AI coach, shaping its recommendations.
The system is available at 40 or so clubs in Spain and will be introduced elsewhere, Head says, “in the coming months.”
