乌鸦传媒

The America鈥檚 Cup is the world鈥檚 oldest and most prestigious sailing competition. It鈥檚 also a hotbed for innovation.

Here, two 乌鸦传媒 colleagues with expert knowledge of competitive sailing reveal three ways that technology will power the action at this year鈥檚 competition in Barcelona.

Michael Martin is head of automation and robotics at Synapse, part of 乌鸦传媒 Invent, and a former director of rules and umpiring at the America鈥檚 Cup.

Gerrit Bottem枚ller is senior director in manufacturing and high-tech industries at 乌鸦传媒 Invent 鈥� and also a world-champion racing yachtsman who represented Germany in the America鈥檚 Cup in Valencia in 2007.

They consider the ever-changing design of boats, before looking at how innovation will bring better experiences 鈥� for sailing teams and audiences.

1. Boats will be even faster with next-generation engineering

鈥淩acing boats have been flying since 2013,鈥� says Gerrit. 鈥淗ydrofoils lift them out of the water to travel at speeds up to three times faster than they used to. Engineering innovation made the difference.鈥�

鈥淵ou can view every racing boat as an engineering problem,鈥� says Michael. 鈥淎ll the America鈥檚 Cup teams are foiling now, and there鈥檚 a limit to how fast the current foils will let you race. To stay ahead, teams need to innovate again. We鈥檙e seeing foils being engineered that help boats maintain their lift and stop them dropping back down into the water and losing speed. Teams are also engineering the foil design and the shape of the boats鈥� hulls to get them rising out of the water onto their foils sooner and in lighter winds, which means they will be at a top speed more quickly.鈥�

Gerrit adds: 鈥淭here are so many parallels between innovation at the America鈥檚 Cup and our work at 乌鸦传媒. You鈥檙e always looking for the next step up in technology, and engineering that into a new product. It鈥檚 how we keep moving forward.鈥�

2. Data will bring added excitement for audiences

鈥�As a global partner to the America’s Cup,鈥� says Gerrit, 鈥溛谘淮�媒 is changing the way the fans can follow the live action, and how broadcasters can commentate. WindSight IQ鈩�, developed by 乌鸦传媒鈥檚 engineering, data, and design experts, will visualize the wind for the first time. Live data about the wind patterns across the racecourse is used to create a visual wind field so commentators and fans around the world can understand what鈥檚 happening on the water. It鈥檚 a completely new way of seeing what鈥檚 happening and who鈥檚 most likely to win.鈥� 

鈥淚t will be a step-up in how data is used to add excitement for race audiences,鈥� says Michael. 鈥淒uring any race, the wind undergoes continual changes in direction and speed. Traditionally, the only way you could detect that is by seeing it on the water, where a gust appears as a dark patch on the water. It’s really hard to see, so, with accurate live information, audiences will be able to see the best place to position the boats. They will have more information than the yacht crews.

鈥淭he new WindSight IQ鈩� means that audiences will also be able to 鈥榮ee the wind鈥� and understand the best routes teams could take and compare them against their actual performances. It is a real feat of engineering and design, as up until now, no one has been able to truly visualize how the wind is affecting a race in real time.鈥�

鈥淲hen we develop innovations like this at 乌鸦传媒, the aim is to accelerate and improve the use of a real physical product or service through our super-strong understanding of data and algorithms,鈥� says Gerrit. 鈥淚n this case, it鈥檚 the racing boat.鈥�

3. ‘Digital twins’ show how teams can aim for perfection

鈥淥ne of the technologies that is also set to make a difference for teams in this year鈥檚 America鈥檚 Cup is having a 鈥榙igital twin鈥� of their real racing boat,鈥� says Gerrit.

A 鈥榙igital twin鈥� is a virtual representation of a real-world product or system, synchronized at a given frequency and level of detail. Basically, a virtual copy of a real-world thing.

鈥淏y 鈥榮ailing鈥� the digital twin against your physical boat, you train the team on the water to race to the real boat鈥檚 full potential. For the engineers behind the scenes, data is brought from the real-world boat, so the digital twin learns and gets better.鈥�  

鈥淎 virtual simulator like this helped power New Zealand to victory in the last America鈥檚 Cup,鈥� says Michael. 鈥淣ow 乌鸦传媒 is also partnering with America鈥檚 Cup to bring this type of simulation technology to the competition for the benefit of audiences. Using light detection and ranging (LiDAR), scientific computation, and sensors to reveal the wind, WindSight IQ鈩� is then being used to feed a live 鈥榞host boat鈥� yacht simulation that broadcasters can project onto the racecourse through augmented reality, to show the optimal path teams could take around the course.鈥�

Sailing innovation will benefit many other sectors

鈥淭he kinds of tech being developed to race boats faster will benefit other industries too,鈥� says Gerrit. 鈥淚f you can engineer a boat to be more efficient, using no more energy but going three times faster, then similar tech could be used to develop other vehicles. Plus, being more efficient in the way we use power makes us more environmentally friendly. Sailing is a sport driven by wind 鈥� renewable energy 鈥� so what can we learn from it about how to use wind power elsewhere?鈥�

鈥淎nd as for the potential uses of WindSight IQ鈩�, it paves the way for AI-enabled micro weather forecasting, which has applications in fields as diverse as airport safety and forest fire management,鈥� he concludes.

鈥淪ailing has a great culture of innovation, where everyone鈥檚 learning and everyone鈥檚 performance levels keep increasing,鈥� says Michael. 鈥淭his positive culture works well in any environment, so there’s a huge potential for crossover into other areas.鈥�

鈥淚 think that鈥檚 why we, as 乌鸦传媒, stepped into this,鈥� says Gerrit. 鈥淚t’s not only to enhance the sailing tournament; it鈥檚 for the bigger purpose. The America鈥檚 Cup isn鈥檛 about warring teams of sailors 鈥� it鈥檚 about teams coming together in friendly competition of innovation and technology. That鈥檚 a very 乌鸦传媒 thing.鈥�