From: robgood@bestweb.net   
      
   On Friday, November 6, 2020 at 3:04:12 PM UTC-5, Questor wrote:   
   > A dispatch from the wonderful world of AI:   
   >    
   > >>>>>>>   
   > Technology and sports have a fairly mixed relationship already. Log on to   
   > Twitter during a soccer match (or football as it's properly known) and as   
   well   
   > as people tweeting ambiguous statements like "YESSS" and "oh no mate" to   
   about   
   > 20,000 inexplicable retweets, you'll likely see a lot of complaints about the   
   > video assistant referee (VAR) and occasionally goal-line technology not doing   
   > its job.   
   >    
   > Fans of Scottish football team Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC experienced a   
   new   
   > hilarious technological glitch during a match last weekend, but in all   
   honesty,   
   > you'd be hard-pressed to say it didn't improve the viewing experience   
   > dramatically.    
   >    
   > The club announced a few weeks ago it was moving from using human camera   
   > operators to cameras controlled by AI. The club proudly announced at the time   
   > the new "Pixellot system uses cameras with in-built, AI, ball-tracking   
   > technology" and would be used to capture HD footage of all home matches at   
   > Caledonian Stadium, which would be broadcast directly to season-ticket   
   holders'   
   > homes.   
   >    
   > Cut to last Saturday, when the robot cameras were given a new challenge that   
   > hadn't been foreseen:  A linesman with a bald head.   
   >    
   > "Inverness Caledonian Thistle don’t employ a cameraman as their camera is   
   > programmed to follow the ball throughout the match. The commentator had to   
   > apologise today as the camera kept on mistaking the ball for the linesman’s   
   > head... pic.twitter.com/LeKsc2bEj7"   
   > - Tom Cox (@seagull81) October 24, 2020   
   >    
   > The AI camera appeared to mistake the man's bald head for the ball for a lot   
   of   
   > the match, repeatedly swinging back to follow the linesman instead of the   
   actual   
   > game. Many viewers complained they missed their team scoring a goal because   
   the   
   > camera "kept thinking the Lino bald head was the ball," and some even   
   suggested   
   > the club would have to provide the linesman with a toupe or hat.   
   >    
   > With no fans allowed in the stadium due to Covid-19 restrictions, the fans of   
   > Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC and their opponents Ayr United could only   
   watch   
   > via the cameras, and so were treated to mostly a view of the linesman's head   
   > instead of any exciting moments of the match that were occurring off-camera,   
   > though some fans saw this as a bonus given the usual quality of performance.   
   >    
   > As you can see from the highlight reel above, the AI-operated camera   
   > continuously follows the linesman's head, particularly struggling as the ball   
   > falls down towards the ground near him. You can practically hear its thought   
   > process:  "ball ball ball bald head, there's a bald head, zoom in on the bald   
   > head."   
   >    
   > The object recognition technology could clearly do with a bit of a tweak, or   
   > else the team might actually have to implement the policy of bald referees   
   being   
   > forced to wear a sombrero to differentiate themselves from the ball.   
   > <<<<<<<   
   >    
   > https://www.iflscience.com/technology/ai-camera-ruins-soccar-g   
   me-for-fans-after-mistaking-referees-bald-head-for-ball/   
      
   I was LOL several times at the "highlights" clip.  Well, at least you could   
   tell who was onside in that half of the field better than usual.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)