Smarter, Faster Swims

S'pore Aquatics adopts drone technology, artificial intelligence in training to gain edge

- David Lee

Casting a watchful eye over the pool, Singapore Aquatics' (SAQ) latest addition to the coaching team immediately saw exactly when and how much the swimmer's speed dropped, and how his right knee and ankle angles increased over the same period.

But SAQ's latest recruitment is not here to replace national swimming coach Gary Tan. Instead, it is a system, developed by researchers from the Singapore Management University (SMU) and the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), which combines drone technology and artificial intelligence (AI).

The system — comprising a drone, gaming laptop and tablet — segments an athlete's body into 17 different points and helps human coaches like Tan to optimise training programmes and improve performance by identifying, in real time, critical factors that influence a swimmer's speed.

Following a demonstration at the OCBC Aquatic Centre on March 4, Tan said that he has been trying out the system once a month. He intends to use it more frequently in a bid to push the national swimmers to set personal bests and national records at the July 11-Aug 3 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore and the Dec 9-20 SEA Games in Thailand.

He said: "From where coaches stand on the side of the pool, we can't get a top view of certain things like the hands in different angles. This system gives us a more enhanced view during our practices to see if a kid is swimming in a symmetrical or non-symmetrical way.

"The real-time feedback is fantastic as it helps our training become more intentful and smarter.