Virtual Sport: Cloud Sport™

Cloud Sport™ is the next major wave of sports competition and performance development.

What is Cloud Sport?

Simply, it is the application of data in the cloud to the PERFORMANCE of sport.

We are all familiar with the application of data and sensory information to the PRESENTATION of sport.

This, after all, is what television and streaming are.

Cloud Sport, however, is fundamentally different.

It is the connection and dynamic integration of information in the cloud to the actual control of movement at the point of performance, i.e., where the movements of the sport are actually performed, in the competition arena.

An illustration of this – with the addition of artificial intelligence – Is self-driving [or flying or sailing] vehicles.

That Tesla, in self-driving mode, senses its environment, conveys that information to the cloud, and receives motion control information instantaneously.

AI also plays a role in Cloud Sport, as non-human competition, but the critical decision path for individual performance is the mind and athletic movement of the competitor him or herself.

Two of the most advanced applications of Cloud Sport are in sailing, with SailGP, and cloud-connected Virtual Sport, like Racket:Nx.

In SailGP, each boat has over 400 IoT [Internet of Things] sensors that provide more than 12,000 data points, which are directly – if not instantaneously – applied to control decisions and movements on the water.

In Racket:Nx, on the Oculus Quest, sensors in the headset and the motion controllers manage both the presentation and performance of player movement in the cloud-connected and served virtual space.

The difference between these two Cloud Sport implementations is that – in the case of Racket:Nx – both the motion control and the VENUE itself are served from the cloud and are therefore available anywhere that a cloud connection is possible.

Multiplayer Mode and Leaderboard access are available on-line and served from the cloud, anywhere that WiFi is available. Meaning that full, registered, competition can be played almost anywhere.

Beyond this, once the Oculus Quest has downloaded the Racket:Nx software from the cloud, the game can be played in Solo Mode – off-line – literally anywhere that a 2 metre diameter circular play area is available.

So, Cloud Sport – and its associated Cloud Competition – opens up a new era of location-independent competition. This development makes travel, and specialised and expensive venues optional or rarely required.

It also makes team development and cooperation, and training and coaching, completely location independent.

These factors and more almost completely eliminate or mitigate the primary obstacles to increased racquet spot participation, like these for tennis: