Track160, a Petah Tikva-based Israeli startup developing a fully automatic team sports analytics service using deep learning technology, won first place in the 2018 European SportsTech held during the SpielMacher conference in Hamburg on August 9.

The victory cup was awarded to Track160 cofounder Miky Tamir.

“Artificial intelligence and deep learning methods completely change sports technology,” said Tamir. “We can now produce new services and products for sports professionals and for the broadcast and gaming markets that have never been dreamed of just few years ago.”

Tamir established Track160 in 2017 with fellow sports technology and computer vision expert Micha Birnboim. Their fully automatic system tracks player and ball position and produces performance and tactical metrics, without GPS sensors, RF receivers or human operators.

The patented technology combines a single-viewpoint camera unit (two handycams or any professional video unit on the customer side) and miniature low-cost tags worn by the players. Later on, the system will become “pure optical,” the company says.

Based on the players’ IDs, locations and ball position, Track160 automatically prepares a comprehensive team/players game analytics database as well as injury and roles predictions.

The extracted 3D poses of the players are also used to generate photorealistic live animation of the players as well as a 3D representation of the match. This capability opens the door to an arsenal of new coaching, media and gaming apps.