University of Sri Jayewardenepura Unveils Groundbreaking Motion-Capture Platform for Athletes

Team

A paradigm shift is quietly inching its way towards Sri Lankan sports, but not on the playing field. A revolution is quietly taking place in the world of Sri Lankan sports, and it's happening away from the field. A team of researchers comprising three faculty members from the Faculty of Engineering, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, has presented a novel research project proposal, which involves developing a motion capture-based sports posture analysis platform that will bring precision through data to Sri Lanka's sports personnel. The intelligent solution is dubbed "Crickine: Biomedical Cricket Analyzer" and is designed to modernize athletic training, injury prevention, and talent identification, both in school, university, club, and at the national level.

The basic concept is that the platform is a link between complex biomechanical engineering and applied coaching. This new system records an athlete's physical movement and converts it to measurable objective data points, while traditional coaching is more subjective, with coaches making judgments based on visual observation, which is difficult. The engineering team has successfully put their first working application that has been totally dedicated towards the fundamental cornerstone of cricket batting, the forward defense shot. The platform features 48 live tracking points, which cover the entire kinematic chain of the player, and evaluates key body parameters such as head trajectory stability, torso inclination, spine flexion, and the alignment of the eyes.

Motion Sensors

The innovation that is so attractive to the average sports lover is the practical software interface, which is based on sports phases. It automatically segments a sporting action to isolate the action into different parts, such as the cricket forward defense into stance, movement, and impact. When a batsman is in trouble, the system will clearly mark where the technical error is made. It measures parameters during the stance phase, during movement, and at the critical impact phase, such as arm positioning and joint angles, in particular the front knee flexion and the elbow flexion, and at the impact phase, exact impact and heel strike contact. The system provides a user friendly response, such as "within normal range" or "see your coach," to facilitate instantaneous changes for athletes and non-technical training staff.

This project's brilliant minds are a powerful collaboration of multiple academic disciplines. The core research team comprises of innovative developers Mr. Mishara Kisal Wijesundara, Ms. Sayuni Danodya Gamage, Mr. Hasindu Navody Liyanage, Mr. Gayantha Kodagoda, and Ms. Umaya Balagalla. The group is advised by a highly qualified panel of consultants, such as Dr. Uditha Wijewardene and Dr. Sajith Udayanga from the Department of Electronics (Faculty of Engineering) and Prof. Sajith Edirisinghe from the Department of Anatomy (Faculty of Medical Sciences), to ensure that the platform maintains scientific integrity and medical credibility. Contributions also directly link to the Department of Sport Science (Faculty of Applied Sciences) and support a holistic approach to athletic biomechanics.

Spine Flexion

In the future, the team says that it is a very scalable platform. It is the start point for cricket, but the technology can be readily adapted for running, jumping, throwing, kicking, swimming, racquet sports, and even medical rehabilitation monitoring. This research group is keen on collaborating with the regulatory bodies and partners to make sports science accessible to the masses and enhance the scientific advancement of sports in Sri Lanka with the introduction of an inexpensive and locally available tracking system over the costly foreign tracking system.