research

Accuracy Matters

Accuracy matters in competitive sports but officiating is never close to being perfect. Even in the highest stage, Umpires still miss calls due to the human nature of inconsistency, which may cost a lot of financial losses and even championships to teams.

Is it time for Robot Umpires?

Currently, Minor League Baseball is experimenting with robot umpires to increase the accuracy of calls. It is close for them to bring it to the Major League. However, I believe that instead of having a robot judge calls, the game should use technology to aid humans rather than make decisions for them. To move forward, America's Pastime needs to embrace the future with new technology but also respect tradition and the human element of the game.

Improving Attendances and Broadcast Rating

The second part of this project focus is to improving the fan experience. As one of the oldest sports in the USA, the Major League is not making innovative changes with the average age of attendance of 57 years old. It has been a huge decrease in young audiences in both broadcast & attendance.

Primary Research

Interviews

secondary Research

Umpires' Performance

In 2018, MLB Umpires made 34,294 incorrect ball and strike calls, which is 14 errors a game. Although there is improvement in the last few decades, fact is Umpires can't call balls and strikes any better than this.

Umpires' Blind Spots and Biased Judgements

Umpires from 2008 through 2018 also exhibited a pronounced and persistent blind spot with a number of incorrect calls at the top of the strike zone. Remarkably, pitches thrown in the top right and left part of the strike zone were called incorrectly almost 27 percent of the time. And while there were improvements in umpiring, the incorrect calls around the bottom right strike zone in 2018 were still a mind-boggling 18.25 percent. Data results confirm that strike-zone blind spots penalized certain pitchers more than others. This time, however, batters benefited from such flubbed calls, as strike zones shrank, forcing pitchers to throw fewer pitches up in the zone. High strikes are typically harder to hit than low strikes for most batters.

Attendance slipping

It's no secret that Major League Baseball is losing fans, with MLB reporting a loss of 11 million in-person paying fans between 2007 and 2019. The demographics of the fan base are older and less diverse, with a median fan age of 57 and clocking in at 60% white, according to North Jersey↗

industrial design: prototyping

Studying how an AR goggles could fits in a helmet

One key aspect of the design process was studying the space usage and ergonomics of the helmet. To do this, I used a ski mask as a stand-in for the augmented reality goggles and placed it within an umpire mask to see how it fit and functioned within the overall design. This allowed me to get a sense of the spatial constraints and make any necessary adjustments to ensure a comfortable and functional fit.

Additionally, I experimented with different ways in which the goggles could be removed at will, as umpires often need to take off the mask to get a better view of the base runners. This involved testing various attachment and detachment mechanisms to find the most effective and efficient solution

configuration

Integrating Technology into the Design

In this section of the design process, I focused on researching and integrating key technologies into the helmet concept. This involved identifying the specific features and capabilities that were most important to include, as well as considering the placement of these technologies within the overall design.

Through this research, I was able to identify the key technologies that would be most impactful and relevant to the project and then worked to integrate them into the design in a way that was both functional and aesthetically pleasing. This included determining the best location for components such as the microphone and augmented reality glasses, as well as considering how these technologies could be seamlessly integrated into the overall form and structure of the helmet."