Israeli startup Pixellot develops a platform for autonomously producing and streaming various sporting events. The technology is based on an AI system that determines on its own the camera’s focus and what to show the fans. Pixellot’s system films the entire field, and then riggers a unique algorithm that decides on what part of the action to focus at any given moment. This helps open the doors for lower level leagues, amateur leagues, or non-major sporting events to get TV-like coverage with out the of a crew cameramen on the ground. However, an hysterical mishap took place during Pixellot’s stream of a Scottish soccer game that display long road ahead to perfecting the tech.
The linesman is the ball?
Not long ago, Pixellot’s AI system streamed a soccer match fro the ages from the Scottish second league between Caledonian Thistle and Ayr United. The system was supposed to focus on the ball and track it throughout the field of play. However, the still learning AI mistook the linesman’s bald dome for the soccer ball and followed it instead.
In the video you can see how again and again the camera leaves the action and focuses on the linesman’s ball-like head. During one incident, the camera switched to the bald head once the ball entered the frame, then the passing continued off-frame, but the camera was fixated on the linesman’s shinny scalp.
The unfortunate mishap came just two weeks after the Scottish team hired Pixellot’s streaming services, priding themselves that now they can stream live for their fans, who are all quarantined in their homes and abstaining from social gathering due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Pixellot responded to the hilarious incident by telling Geektime that “Pixellot live streamed 105,000 hours of worldwide sport last month. Yes, there was one specific issue in one of the games and it was taken care of.”
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
More than $60M in funding
The company has raised over $60 million to date, and last December, Pixellot acquired an Israeli video-analysis platform to provide its customers with insight into training and player development. This ultimately led to a partnership with FC Barcelona to provide the soccer giants and even legend Leo Messi and AI-driven edge in training. Pixellot CEO Alon Werber told Geektime in June that the company has “become the biggest sport production company around the world.”
