Sensors in sports activities as we all know them will be traced again to 1996’s introduction of the FoxTrax illuminated hockey puck, an augmented actuality enhancement that made it simpler to see the puck on TV. When Mediaweek first reported on the event of the puck in June 1995, Fox Sports’ then-president David Hill would not affirm or deny the story, albeit whereas conceding that Fox was engaged on one thing. “[We are] looking at every opportunity possible to enhance the viewing of the game through technological innovations,” he stated. “People at the networks have tried this sort of innovation before, but the technology of trying what is now being rumored is extremely complex.”
It was actual, although: A puck that glowed blue on TV and picked up a purple path behind it at excessive speeds. Shortly after FoxTrax debuted, a May 1996 Popular Mechanics article broke down the way it labored: An ordinary puck was minimize in half, hollowed out, fitted with a “circuit board about the size of a silver dollar,” and outfitted with 20 infrared emitters.
This was augmented by sensors positioned above and across the rink to find out the puck’s pace and place, whereas 4 Silicon Graphics workstations within the manufacturing truck had been tasked with dealing with the precise visible results. A complicating issue was the battery expertise of the time, as every FoxTrax puck may solely run for 10 minutes, requiring Fox to convey 50 of them for its debut on the 1996 NHL All-Star Game.
Watching FoxTrax in action at present, it does not learn as significantly obtrusive however was largely criticized by sports activities media on the time, and subsequently, it was ditched earlier than the NHL bundle’s 1998 transfer to ABC.