Scientists develop AI system to monitor athlete health in real time

ISTANBUL

Scientists at Yıldız Technical University (YTU) have developed a cutting-edge system that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor and assess the performance of athletes in real time.

The innovative project is led by Hüseyin Üvet, a lecturer at the university’s Mechatronic Engineering Department, along with his team, who began their work three months ago.

The AI-driven system utilizes specially designed software and hardware to analyze athletes the moment they appear in front of a camera.

“The goal is to minimize the risk of injury for athletes,” according to Üvet. He explained that the system offers immediate analysis of an athlete’s health and performance, helping identify potential risks early.

Üvet noted that AI technology in sports engineering has advanced significantly. “We began our study by gathering biomechanical and physical data from athletes. With the AI system, we can now ensure that athletes are training in a healthy way.”

The system’s key feature is its use of algorithms embedded with special mathematical functions tailored to each athlete.

“We feed our algorithms with this data to monitor and analyze the athletes’ movements,” Üvet explained.

“We record every movement during training to identify factors that might lead to health issues or injuries. Training load is a major issue. Athletes often don’t realize how much stress their bodies are under,” he added.

This is when the AI comes in, detecting problems that are not visible to the naked eye.

When the program is fully developed, Üvet hopes the system will be able to determine an athlete’s health and performance with just a single camera. The data collected will be compiled into reports for further analysis.

“We are reshaping the future of sports with these engineering advancements,” he stated, emphasizing engineers’ role in sports science.