American Sports Medicine Institute taps XOS

XOS Technologies is partnering with the American Sports Medicine Institute (ASMI) to develop a specialized XOS SportMotion module that will allow professional and collegiate baseball teams to gather data and transmit directly to ASMI for the analysis of pitchers’ throwing motions.
XOS SportMotion was introduced in January and is the world’s first 3D motion capture and analysis technology platform aimed specifically at team sports (see XOS brings motion-capture to teams).

Motion capture technology requires the athlete to wear a suit that has numerous reflective dot markers. Cameras are then placed around the subject to read the dot markers and, with the help of on-board processors data from all the cameras are sent to a computer and then rendered in realtime into a live 3D model.

The technology won’t be cheap, with initial systems expected to run into the six figures. But XOS says it is already working with some un-named teams on installing the system in practice and training facilities.

“The cost isn’t in the number of cameras,” says Albert Tsai, XOS Technologies vice president of Advanced Research & Development who adds that a system could be placed around a football practice field or basketball court. “They’re expensive relative to the cost of a normal camcorder but the real cost is the integration.”

ASMI has studied the biomechanics of baseball pitching and tested more than 1,000 baseball pitchers at all levels of the game during that time. With the XOS SportMotion module, teams can now receive these pitching analyses from ASMI without having to transport athletes and coaches to ASMI’s headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama. The module will allow teams to, on their own, gather and electronically transmit the acquired motion, biographic and demographic data as needed to ASMI, where its Biomechanists will conduct a thorough and complete pitching analysis.

XOS is scheduled to demonstrate the new SportMotion module at MLB teams’ spring training sites in Florida during the week of March 12th and in Arizona during the week of March 19th.

“XOS has demonstrated a strong history of providing technology solutions
to college and professional sports teams,” said orthopaedic surgeon Dr. James R. Andrews, Chairman and Medical Director of ASMI and a founding member of both ASMI and the Alabama Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center (ASMOC). “We are confident that by partnering with XOS, ASMI will further its mission of improving the understanding, prevention and treatment of orthopaedic and sports-related injuries.”