Home Box Office Inc.’s new boxing unit, Punch Force, recently got a patent for boxing gloves that will measure the force of punches and transfer the information to a database.
Granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, this patent’s technology allows HBO to track a wide range of information that helps to analyze the sport of boxing. With Punch Force, HBO will be able to identify various types of punches by using the accelerometer and gyroscope sensors, and the information database has profiles for different punch types and other punch tracking data.
More specifically, the trackers will allow HBO to see the distance covered by a punch, its force, its duration, its speed and velocity, and other data. All of this is in an effort to record these less-obvious punch statistics like you would measure more easily-recorded stats in any other sport.
The patent says, “Many currently available data and analysis devices for athletes are intrusive to the athlete’s performance. As a result, the devices may not be effectively used in an analysis during an event. An athlete’s uniform is designed for maximum mobility and protection, and should not impede the performance of the athlete. Thus, there is a need for a system and method for data capture and analysis that does not interfere with an athlete’s actions and abides by the rules of the sport.”
This endeavor by HBO shows just how big the sports analytics movement is getting. A sport that has mainly fallen from the national spotlight in the fast several decades and typically has no in-depth stats now has the technology to instantly track in-bout results and transform that information into insightful stats for fans and experts alike. It remains to be seen how HBO will use and apply this information for the betterment of boxing but it can only help further understanding of the sport.