Scientific achievements have affected every aspect of our lives and have vastly improved the overall quality of it. This also includes sports where athletes are faster and stronger than ever before. Just look at the Olympics where records are being broken every four years. The bar is constantly being raised as we develop new forms of technology. With casinos, for example, the technology has come so far that people not only play live online casino games, but they also play VR casino games and win different prizes.
Numerous tech developments in sports, like heart monitors, advanced analytics or protective gears, enabled athletes to perform on a level that has been unimaginable decades ago. The knowledge we gained about genetics and biomechanics have allowed athletes to improve their abilities and become capable of incredible feats.
The central question here is whether we have gotten to the point where we reached an absolute maximum of what we can do as athletes. Obviously, there are limits to our capabilities, but from this point of view, it seems that those limits are still far away. Let’s take a look at some of the groundbreaking technological advancements that changed the sports world.
The Hawk-Eye Technology
The Hawk-eye technology is a device that uses 6-7 high-end cameras to trace the ball’s trajectory during the game. Hawk-eye is mostly used in cricket, football, tennis, and volleyball, and it represents the most advanced officiating tool in sports. With the most accurate and reliable technology on the field following the ball from every angle, players could challenge umpire’s calls.
The match referee uses this sophisticated technology to make an error-free decision, and by doing so, they avoid the criticism of the players and spectators. The hawk-eye technology was first used in a cricket game in 2001, and it has made sports much fairer to players and officials ever since.
Prosthetic Devices for Athletes with Disabilities
Advancement of prosthetic technology has allowed people with disabilities or lost limbs to compete in sports. With the evolution of nanotechnology and the discovery of bionic devices, people with disabilities can enjoy competitive and pleasure sports, including track and field, golf, baseball, hockey, and much more.
One of the greatest prosthetic innovations available for people with disabilities is the bionic hand device called iLimb. The device enables finger and thumb movement and it can be accessed through a customized mobile phone app.
Ingestible Thermometer Pills
These pills are used to monitor the athlete’s visceral organs, temperature, and heart rate. When an athlete swallows a pill, it moves around the GI tract and gathers vital information of the body. This way, medical personnel can supervise the athlete’s health condition during the game, and if any problem occurs, it can be solved before an accident happens.
KERS
KERS, or Kinetic Energy Recovery System, is a device that collects wasted kinetic energy created by the car’s braking process. The stored energy converts into power, and it can be used for rapid acceleration later on. The system has proved to be very handy in F1 races. However, due to the system’s weight and F1 weight regulations, it hasn’t been fully implemented in vehicles yet.
