Tokyo Olympics: From 3DAT to robots, the Games that went high-tech

A breathtaking drone light show by Olympic Partner Intel was one of the highlights of the Opening Ceremony, as Tokyo 2020 came to life. Following the traditional parade that saw the participating athletes march into Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium on July 23, a fleet of 1,824 Intel Premium drones took to the sky above the venue and formed a complex set of geometrical shapes before transitioning into the blue-and-white chequered emblem of Tokyo 2020.

The next-generation drones then reassembled to form a giant 3D representation of the world. They created one of the most eye-catching moments of the opening ceremony. Intel drone light-show animators collaborated closely with Tokyo 2020 creative teams to incorporate the drones into the opening ceremony narrative. 

“Intel plays a key role in accelerating the adoption of new technologies, by working across the Olympic movement to integrate technology into many facets of the Games,” says Rick Echevarria, Intel’s vice president in the sales and marketing group and general manager of its Olympics programme.

These range from sporting event operations and sports performance to improvements in host-city infrastructure and providing fans with data-rich experiences. “Many of the innovations unleashed for the Games will ultimately scale beyond the Games to support our larger purpose.”

The Intel Premium drones — weighing just 340 grams each — are designed for entertainment purposes and are equipped with four LEDs which emit light that is true to colour and unmatched in brightness. Real-time kinematic (RTK) GPS also enables increased positional accuracy for higher resolution animation, sharper imagery and more dynamic 3D animation.

The Olympics this year were not just tech-heavy in these more visible ways, but also deployed technology to bring the Games to the world in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Olympic Broadcast Services (OBS) led a significant technological transition from High Definition to Ultra High Definition and High Dynamic Range (UHD and HDR), taking viewers closer to the athletes, supporting more devices and more video formats. This meant not just breath-taking video, but also next-generation immersive audio that aimed to transport the audience right into the heart of the action.

The Tokyo 2020 5G Project of Intel, NTT and NTT DoCoMo, implemented by the Tokyo Organising Committee, provided a new sports viewing experience using 5G technology for spectators and event officials at the three target venues.

 

In addition to live-streaming ultra-high-resolution video and simultaneous multipoint video leveraging the high speed and capacity of 5G, there were augmented reality (AR) spectator experiences that took advantage of low latency. The Tokyo 2020 5G Project was deployed during the swimming, sailing and golf events.

However, with spectators not being allowed due to the Covid-19 situation, this was not fully implemented. The use of AR and virtual reality in broadcast, though, was a reality for viewers, where broadcasters had invested in graphics to make this technology possible.

In a swimming event, “if you have ten people swimming, you would actually see a representation of that AR in a graphical form on a larger screen,” says Prasoon Thakur, a media technology expert. The OBS also created an innovative new digital fan engagement suite which allowed fans to interact with live events in Tokyo, and for rights-holding broadcasters to interact with their fans.

Another key technology that the Olympics showcased this year was the use of robots, developed by Toyota Motor Corporation. The Tokyo Organising Committee deployed four new “futuristic robots” to assist spectators, athletes and officials at competition venues and to relay sound, images and physical feedback from venues to those watching remotely.

Two of them streamed images and sounds from the remote locations back to the Olympic site, and let remote watchers chat with Olympic athletes and fans on-site in real time to give them a feel of being there.

“Many robots and technology are deployed by event production companies to capture data (sports-specific, environmental, video — underwater, in air, automated camera dollies, and so on), and may not find mention, as these are made for a specific purpose and many a time are proprietary,” says Thakur.

The content produced during the Olympics used 2.7 terabytes of international bandwidth, which is a hefty seven times that used at the previous Olympics, he adds. Another interesting bit of technology is 3DAT (3D Athlete Tracking), a first-of-its-kind platform that brings cutting-edge artificial intelligence and computer vision motion tracking capabilities out of the lab and onto the field.

3DAT ingests video from multiple cameras, then applies pose estimation and biomechanics algorithms to extract 3D form and motion from athletes. The information generated can be used to enhance storytelling for broadcasts or deliver insights to train athletes. That data was also integrated into the Olympic broadcast during replays of the 100- and 200-metre sprints, the 4x100-metre relays and the hurdles events.