CES 2018: Companies showcase new and innovative sports tech
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The world's largest consumer electronics show continues in Las Vegas with companies launching more than 120-thousand new products. One hot area is sports tech. And CGTN's Mark Niu is there to take a swing.
That's no slouch in the goggles. In fact, it happens to be undefeated, world champion boxer Floyd Mayweather taking on himself in VR. Virtual Floyd can now train anyone, like me.
A little bit tired already. Keeping pushing through.
Who ultimately gets a chance to go toe-to-toe with the VR champ himself.
"Oh geez."
JAMES WILLIAMS, CEO MAYWEATHER BOXING & FITNESS "Essentially you are learning throughout each class how Floyd knocked out each of his different opponents."
Mark says: "Despite my talent, I wasn't able to hit him. How come?"
JAMES WILLIAMS, CEO MAYWEATHER BOXING & FITNESS "We made his character impossible to hit, in the same way in real life, you need to make it true to life as possible."
MARK NIU LAS VEGAS "And another sport rife with technological opportunity is tennis. This tennis racket has a sensor from the Shenzhen company Koospur. And when I strike this ball, it measures my speed, power and even the angle."
YOANA ZHUO OVERSEAS MARKETING DIRECTOR, KOOSPUR "We add the professional player data in our app so you can see the data from the player, then you can compare."
MARK NIU LAS VEGAS "Now my producer Kevin has so far been unimpressed by my athletic prowess so he has challenged me to this reaction test by the FitLight trainer. Let's bring it on."
In an epic battle that rivals nothing Fitlight actually sees potential.
"Neither of you missed any which is amazing. But every dog has his day."
ROB BOUW SALES REPRESENTATIVE, FITLIGHT "Almost every NBA team has a system, almost NFL, NHL. All the big teams in the big league they have a system. To give an example, Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, he uses our system, we're very proud of that."
But gamified testing is also being used to take on serious problems that plague athletics like concussions. The Reflexion Edge System, which can actually be folded up into a backpack, measures my hand-eye coordination, peripheral vision and lateral precision. The results are used as a baseline so if I suspect I have a concussion, I can do more tests to compare.
MATTHEW CAMPAGNA CO-FOUNDER & CEO, REFLEXION "We are giving athletic trainers the information they need in order to make the call. They know how to determine, I know this athlete, I can take into account the fact their peripheral vision and their depth perception are a lot lower today, they were playing in the game, they had a few hits. I know this isn't normal for them."
Regular testing also helps to improve coordination - a sign that technology is giving a boost to both the mental and physical aspects of the game. Mark Niu, CGTN, Las Vegas.