University of Waterloo, MLB team partner on pitcher biomechanics project
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PitcherNet takes the main camera feeds fans are used to seeing — either from behind the pitcher or behind the batter — and combines it with video footage shot on a smartphone by a scout or team official. Using AI, PitcherNet then extrapolates the pitcher's entire throwing motion, recreating the level of detail that the 12-camera Hawk-Eye system is capable of producing.
'What we do is we try to extract 2-D information, 2-D joint position information, and then extrapolate using 3-D avatars,' said Waterloo PhD student Jerrin Bright. 'The 3-D avatars are like blobs encompassing a human itself and we use those blobs to basically find the 3-D human pose, which can be represented with the shape of the person, so that's the idea behind it.'
Sig Mejdal, the Orioles' assistant general manager, said that in his experience it's a necessity to evolve, even in a sport as old as baseball.
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