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CASTER.
CASTER is a piece of novel computer vision AI software designed for wheelchair rugby sports analysis and live broadcast graphics. Tailored specifically to wheelchair rugby, CASTER uses a state-of-the-art detection model to accurately tracks players on court.
CASTER was developed as my final masters project for the GID (Global Innovation Design) program at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London. It was developed with cooperation from the GB Paralympic team and was shown and discussed on several major broadcast and radio shows in the run up to the 2024 Paralympics, including ITV London, London Live, BBC London, BBC Wales, and BBC World Service.
motivation.
The main reason for choosing wheelchair rugby as my focus for this project was my dad.
He’s a retired wheelchair rugby player, having competed in the Atlanta and Sydney Paralympics on the GB wheelchair rugby squad. He still helps coach the local team – the Ospreys and he loves the sport with his whole heart. My dad is the person that first taught me how to make things which I think is a big part of why I became an engineer and now a designer so I wanted to make something for the sport that he loves so much.
There are over 230,000 people in the UK with a similar level of impairment to my dad and having grown up around the sport I’ve also seen first hand the power it has to help people literally rebuild their lives, from the sense of community to the skills and confidence it helps build I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that there are many people who wouldn’t be around if it weren’t for the sport.
Research.
My initial research for this project involved interviewing members of the London wheelchair rugby club, some of whom are current or prospective members of the GB Paralympic squad. With their feedback I was able to narrow in on this idea of a sports analysis tool.
Further research saw me interviewing both the head coach (pictured) and lead analyst of the GB Paralympic squad. I was also fortunate to be given the opportunity to shadow the GB analyst at the 2024 Quad Nations competition that took place in Cardiff where GB competed against Japanese, American, and French teams.
This gave me plenty of insights into the uses and needed functionality of a sports analysis tool.
Prototypes.
Using this research I created several Lo-Fi prototypes to best determine what layout provided the most visual clarity for coaches.
I decided on the use of a top-down tactical view with trails showing the motion of the players. It was also deemed useful to split icons up into offensive and defensive types as this allowed for greater clarity of the tactics being employed.
technology.
Working version.
Looks-like design.
These animations show my vision of what a final version of the on court graphics and tactical view might look like.
in context.
interviews.
BBC World Service
00:00 / 04:49
BBC Wales
00:00 / 03:30
LBC News
00:00 / 05:52
TALKSPORT
00:00 / 03:51
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