NEW YORK—Startups and the largest sports equipment companies in the world came to the FAST conference, sponsored by the Wearable Tech Expo, to discuss the latest achievements and challenges in wearables today. Stealing the show was Qaizar Hassonjee of Adidas who discussed how their products were used by the German National Team during their World Cup training and eventual win.
Showing off flashy videos and the latest in tracking wearables, Adidas demonstrated how they are using their MiCoach platform to build athletes, from elite world cup players to youth participants.
“Adidas’ key goal has always been ‘Help Athletes Get Better,’” Hassonjee expressed to the conference.
The team edition of MiCoach, allows a small tracking beacon to be placed in a non-invasive tech shirt, which a player wears under the jersey. It connects with a portable base and shares millions of data points that are accessible in real time through the use of a mobile app. But Hassonjee believes that turning the data into coachable moments is what separates Adidas.
“Breaking it down gave more of a base to analyze,” he told the conference attendees.
He explained that the data is broken down into four categories: Power, Relative Power, Efficiency and Training Impact. The Adidas goal is that in-tune coaching staffs can better coach players by using this data.
Adidas is also jumping into the activity tracker market with a newly released device for the wrist called FitSmart, which helps you improve your running by monitoring heart rate plus activity jointly. The device wirelessly syncs with MiCoach. Hassonjee also briefly mentioned the Smart Ball, which is currently being used in soccer training. The digital soccer ball can track velocity, spin and trajectory but is not ready to be used in live games just yet.
One of the biggest identification points that speakers discussed was that the wearables market is dividing into two different device structures: performance based and biometric trackers, better known as “activity” devices such as a FitBit. It was floated that this might be occurring due to market trends that show that “activity trackers,” have been found to be inaccurate and are often abandoned by the user.
Pivothead
One of the more notable speakers was Chris Cox of Pivothead, who makes a smart glass product that uses the same chip set as GoPro Cameras. The Pivothead uses a small camera in the center of glassware to capture the Point-of-View (POV) of the user and then can stream said content onto a mobile app or live Internet URL.
“We are not only focused on the broadcast experience but the experience of the viewer who is also taking part in that PivotHead experience, because they are viewing what this person is creating and what content is being pushed,” Cox told SportTechie.
The product uses a cloud-based system and has Bluetooth capability rather than other products, which need plug-and-pull to download the user videos.
“Action cameras are integrating more wifi and connectivity, but at least what I have seen up to today is more local viewing, pairing with your smartphone, but what we are interested in is remote streaming, broadcast and bi-directional functionality,” Cox expressed to SportTechie. “For us it is really giving the consumer the ability to share the real-time POV, seamlessly, intuitively and so they can share with friends, family or Twitter/Facebook followers.”
The glasses are equipped with LED lights in the top corner of the frame and can be sync’d with headphones for instant feedback. Cox believes what will set his product apart from the competition and Google Glass is that the PivotHead is not distracting, as it does not include a feedback monitor like other smart glass.
What Cox is truly excited about is getting his product into a live sporting event.
“It’s going to happen any day now,” that a PivotHead product will be used in a real life event. “We are working with HBO Sports right now to see if we can get our developer kit integrated into their fight this Saturday. They have had numerous ideas whether to put (the Pivothead smart glasses) whether on the trainer between rounds…or a prefight stare down or on the referees. These are some of the use cases that are coming very quickly.”
PUSH
One of the day’s most interesting panelists was Rami Alhamad of PUSH, a new wearable device and application that tracks strength and conditioning. Unlike many of his peers, PUSH’s development process had been more about the IP.
“We don’t believe there is more need for data, there is a need for an understanding of data, and our focus has been developing algorithms that can help you detect accurately what’s going on, no matter what it is coming from,” Alhamad told SportTechie.
“One of the biggest things we focused on and something that took a lot of time and effort, but I believe it paid off, is that we launched a BETA program seven months before we launched the product. We spent those seven months with 100 BETA users, who were some of the top coaches in the NFL, NHL in addition to sport scientists, trying to dig deep into what metrics they care the most about and what they would like the app experience to look like, we have taken all their feedback and put it into the new software.”
Alhamad summed up the value of the conference for all developers and why these conferences are so significant.
“I think you are seeing, to borrow an analogue from the computer world, the first hacker clubs in the valley that Steve Jobs and all these guys attended. This is a new era starting upon us with way more data and sensors and the people who are expressing initial interest in it are going to be the leaders in it I hope!”
What is Still Needed for Wearables
New entrants into the wearable space, Davyeon Ross of Shot Tracker, Pierre-Alexandre Fournier of Hexoskin, and Isaiah Kacyvenski of MC10 Inc. talked about their products and developments in the wearable world during The Home Field Advantage Player panel. The discussion quickly turned to battery life, and that for wearables to gain wider use developments are needed so that users do not lose interest in the item. Additionally, size of the chip set will further change the industry. Additionally, smaller units are needed for true wearables to gain broader use.
Kacyvenski discussed that part of the problem with the current wearable market is how we cull and process the data, for wide adaptation the industry might need to develop new markers and tracking metrics. Ross, followed up on this point that ‘you cannot improve what you cannot gather.’
Ross also discussed how wearables can go from the practice facility to the arena:
“Think about getting data in real-time to make the player better, and how we transition it from just taking shots to in-game, is what we are working on, so a coach can see that his star player only took two shots in the first half, so he can fix that problem.”
Check back tomorrow for more on the Wearable Tech Expo Day 1 from the Jacobs Javits Center in New York City. Make sure to follow us on Twitter for live updates throughout out the day.