Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras researchers along with Inspire Institute of Sports (IIS) in Bellary, Karnataka, are developing a cost-effective boxing analytics platform to increase India’s boxing medal tally at the 2024 Olympics.

An analytics platform called ‘Smartboxer,’ being developed as a multi-version software by the Center of Excellence for Sports Science and Analytics at IIT Madras, will provide an above-par competitive edge to Indian athletes. It will provide feedback and performance assessments using Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled wearable sensors and video cameras.

‘Smartboxer’ will be deployed to analyse the boxers’ performance at Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS). Based on the feedback from IIS, changes will be incorporated into the ‘Smartboxer’ analytics platform. This will enable the software to be effectively used to assist coaches and boxers.

“Sports engineering, a relatively new discipline, is an inter-disciplinary domain that requires application of mathematics, physics, Artificial Intelligence and IoT-driven wearables. Sports engineering will help to understand the physiology and bio-mechanics associated with a sport. This will aid in solving sporting problems and designing better sports equipment," said the institute in its release.

Highlighting how ‘Smartboxer’ can boost India’s medal tally at the Olympics, Prof. Ranganathan Srinivasan, Head, Center of Excellence for Sports Science and Analytics, IIT Madras and Adjunct Faculty, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Madras, said, “This technology that is being developed will act as a bridge between the coach and the elite athlete to identify, understand and improve the performance constructively. ‘Smartboxer’ is one among the many initiatives of IIT Madras aimed towards the Indian government’s ambitious goal of winning more medals in the Olympics. "

John Warburton, Head of Youth Development (Boxing) at Inspire Institute of Sports (IIS), said, “This system will allow us to analyse a boxer’s performance in a way that aids progression. We will be able to highlight to the boxers their strengths as well as areas that require development such as patterns of movement, activity levels, punch and defensive repertoires – both, technically and tactically. I am greatly excited by the system’s potential to use data and artificial intelligence in a bid to identify coaching points and support our observations of the athletes.”