Have you ever watched fencing as a sport? I mean at the Olympics, for example. Watching a sport like fencing that is so fast that the eye is typically slower than the action, means that fencing is typically not very high on the viewers list of events. Now augmented reality is out to change this perception by offering a new way of watching such events.
The ‘Yuki Ota Fencing Visualized Project’ published a video on YouTube (found originally on Geekologie.com) that shows how spectators may be able to follow the fencing sport without missing a beat. When you consider that the fencer is moving his weapon faster than we can perceive it, AR is able to trace the movement through the air by leaving a colored trail and showing any impact.
The image demonstrates this very well, but watching the video is pretty impressive and could change the perception of this sport for a wider audience. Besides the color trail the action can be reviewed immediately in slow motion and will also help the judges to get it right.
This concept can be easily adopted for other sports with similar issues and team sports where multiple camera views can be combined to give spectators and referees a better view of the action. Overall this is a very impressive show of AR capabilities. – NH
