Computer Science in Sport

Press Review

• Auf Sieg programmiert. Saarbrücker Zeitung, 18.10.06. German only
• Sportinformatik - Hohe Leistung und präzise Kontrolle mit Chip & Co. Deutschlandfunk, 23.09.06. German only
• Was bedeutet „Herandopen“ ?. Saarbrücker Zeitung, 22.09.06. German only

Press Release

• Sportinformatik hilft Doping aufzudecken. 14.07.06. German only

Summary

The seminar dealt with a dynamically developing interdisciplinary area, where qualitative and non-deterministic paradigms from Sport like behavioural processes and modelling meet technological and structural paradigms from Computer Science. New demands, new concepts and technologies, and future trends in both disciplines were discussed.

The event brought together working areas of common interest without being focused on a single area such as pure practice, sport theories, or sport technologies. In particular, future-oriented working areas like process modelling and information processing were discussed.

Process modelling, for example, can have quite different understandings in sport science and computer science, respectively. While computer scientists mostly have their focus on deterministic and clearly defined structural processes like in industrial production, sport scientists think of non-deterministic and fuzzy-defined processes like those from games, motion, or training and rehabilitation. The seminar provided a platform for an exchange of experiences in order to establish new ideas and new solutions.

The fields of RoboCup (i.e. soccer playing robots) and, more generally, robotics, as another example, build a thrilling up-to-date working area, where computer scientists and sport scientists can collaborate effectively and successfully, dealing with motor phenomena as well as with tactical aspects of behaviour. In particular, artificial neural networks play an important role here, stretching from pattern and situation recognition over analysing and optimising learning processes to behaviour control. Internationally well known researchers as well as researchers from the younger generation have been invited to participate in this seminar. From 17.9.2006 to 20.9.2006 28 researchers from 7 countries discussed their recent work and actual tendencies in Computer Science in Sport.

There were 24 oral presentations and a discussion session on Doping and Computer Science, which was introduced by lectures given by Matthias Blatt (NADA – Bonn) and Martin Lames (Universität Augsburg). The presentations were thematically grouped into the following areas.

• General aspects
• Modelling
• Biomechanics
• RoboCup/Motion Tracking
• Multimedia/eLearning
• Data acquisition/IT