RePlay

European Commission
Funding Organization:	European Commission
Funding Programme:
Funding Instrument:	Small or medium-scale focused research project (STREP)
Start Date:	October 30, 2013
Duration:	36 months
Total Budget:	2,656,400 EUR
ITI Budget:	351,900 EUR

The RePlay project has as its goal the development of a technology platform that shall provide access and interpretation of digital content for Traditional Sports and Games (TSG). It will enable multiple modes of training, coaching and knowledge sharing that will contribute to the increased participation and preservation of traditional sport in the future. This will be achieved by developing a base technology and methodologies for the digitisation of the art and forms of play of a set of representative sports. In the case of RePlay, this will be field based Gaelic team sports and Basque individual/doubles ball and court sports. The fundamental structure of these sports is extensible to a vast majority of traditional minority sports and mainstream sports.

RePlay will consist of the design and implementation of a platform for the capture, annotation, indexing and provision of 3D sports content. It will include the analysis and specification of methodologies and ideal cost-effective hardware solutions for the extension of the project to other sports. The project will focus on the use of existing and near future 3D motion capture hardware. The project does not include the development of any hardware as an objective, as the market is already addressing this. It shall instead focus on the creation of the knowledge and underlying software tools that will provide a low-cost entry point to other TSG associations.

RePlay will focus on the analysis, capture and modelling of the basic styles and techniques of play common to all participants or the “Local Hero” using low-cost capture techniques. However, RePlay will also use advanced professional grade capture techniques on “National Heroes”. A national hero, or a recognised elite player, develops their sporting prowess to an extent that is unique. This presents Intangible Cultural Heritage to be preserved, an opportunity to allow the young to try to learn and emulate their heroes, and a scientific opportunity to compare and analyse the evolution in the changes of styles of play over time. RePlay will also include work on retrospective analysis of sports via video content.

European Researchers’ Night 2013: One night, 300 European cities

October 03, 2013

Exploring science through fun learning! Visual Computing Lab took place on European Researcher’ Night (@NOESIS – 27th of September 2013) and demonstrated 2 applications: “Castle in the forest” and “RePlay penalties”. This is a mega event taking place every year on a single September night in about 300 cities all over Europe. Over than 1000 kids and adults tried our applications! RePlay penalties “RePlay Penalties“ is a 3D video game based on interaction between the motion of the human body in the real world and a virtual 3D space using a Microsoft Kinect Sensor. Taking advantage of the skeleton data that Kinect is tracking in real time, in combination with the way that a football player is kicking the ball and the physics that take place in this action, the player can kick in front of the sensor, exactly as she/he is kicking a real ball. During the action of kicking, algorithms are calculating the force that the foot applies to the ball appropriately in order to simulate the real kicking. The laws of physics are close to realistic and the reaction of the ball is totally physical. The player is placed in a crowded stadium against the goalkeeper. The player has to kick four penalty kicks and score, so as more penalties he scores, the total score is higher. Overall, “RePlay Penalties” is a game that shows how a player can completely interact with a virtual environment and get the feeling that she/he immerses in a virtual world. This research is supported by the EU funded project “RePlay”. Castle in the forest In the tele-immersive game “Castle in the Forest”, the player is captured by 4 Microsoft Kinect Sensors and is placed inside a virtual game environment. Utilizing real-time 3D-Reconstruction algorithms the player is immersed into the virtual world as a full body 3D replicant. The player is able to see himself/herself into the game and interact with the game environment. Initially, the player is placed deep inside the forest. The purpose of the game is for him/her to follow a path inside the forest that eventually will lead him/her in front of a castle. This is where the game ends. The player navigates inside the virtual world with special hand gestures. He/she is able to move forward, backward and rotate around himself/herself clockwise and counterclockwise. Along the path, there are several checkpoints that the player must visit in order, until s/he reaches the last checkpoint in front of the castle. Every time the player reaches a checkpoint, some special visual and sound effects are shown. There is even a special gesture which the player can use in order to trigger a thunder lighting effect in the environment, for the sake of entertainment. Overall, “Castle in the Forest” is a game prototype showing that the merging of real with virtual can provide an interesting and entertaining experience for the end user. This work is supported by the EU funded project EXPERIMEDIA.