Researchers at a Waterloo Engineering lab have partnered with a leading data analytics company to advance insight into the fast-paced play in professional hockey.
The Vision and Image Processing (VIP) Research Group is collaborating with Stathletes, an Ontario-based company that provides data and problems for members to tackle using computer vision and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques.
“Hockey is a very fast sport,” said Dr. David Clausi, a VIP director and systems design engineering professor. “We’re trying to figure out where the players are, where they’re moving to, what their actions are and what they’re doing as a team.”
Stathletes began working with VIP, which has a long track record of hockey analysis using video, while looking for ways to automate what was once a tedious, labour-intensive process. A steady stream of students have since gained hands-on experience with the company.
“(Clausi) has been such a good curator of people that are very inquisitive in computer vision and machine learning,” said Meghan Chayka, the company co-founder and co-CEO. “Not only have we been able to work with the students, but we’ve also been able to hire them at Stathletes.
“Being connected to Waterloo and world-class research superpowers a lot of our work.”
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