Vicon motion capture technology is perhaps most well-known for its role in the entertainment industry, as movie buffs and tech gurus can easily picture actors covered in sensors to capture human movement for animation.
But at the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. April Chambers and her staff at the Innovation Institute aren’t using motion capture technology to create the next box office hit. Instead, they’re focused on hitting it out of the park — the baseball park, that is.
“Pitt is one of the first handful to do this for their baseball teams, so we’re really on the cutting edge here in terms of being able to do this,” Chambers says. “It’s really cool for them to come into the lab and get instrumented with the equipment and see themselves come to life on the computer. That’s really neat to them.”
The lab at Pitt has been transformed into an indoor baseball pitching ecosystem, including protective netting to make sure none of the 90-mile-per-hour fastballs hit the motion capture equipment or researchers. “They do a warmup in their own training facility, and then come down to the lab. We set them up with our sensors, and we basically created our own baseball structure within the motion capture lab,” says Chambers. “We have them throw their pitches and get them out the door as quickly as we can. Then, our engineers take that data, analyze it and turn it into something that the coaching staff can use to improve player performance.”
The goal is to provide coaches and athletic trainers with data and insights on deficiencies in player strength and body mechanics. When dealing with elite athletes, the ability to fine-tune even the smallest of movements can be a game changer. The research team at Pitt acknowledges that “these coaches are very good at picking up things with the naked eye, but some things can’t be seen with the naked eye, so that’s what we provide them,” Chambers says. “We give them that extra push that they need with their players.”
“In Pittsburgh, we also have the Pirates in our city and other opportunities with other colleges,” Chambers says. “Right now, we’re talking about elite D-I athletes, but what we learn can help Little Leaguers, as well.”
The motion capture system can record any movement, so long as Chambers and her team can correctly place sensors on the athlete’s body. That means biomechanics could be a possibility for football players, volleyball players, soccer players and beyond as Chambers and her team prove the efficacy of the program. “I would love to do all the sports,” she says. “I think this is applicable across the board.”
