Chris Kluwe: How augmented reality will change sports ... and build empathy

What do augmented reality

and professional football

have to do with empathy?

And what is the air speed velocity

of an unladen swallow?

Now unfortunately, I'm only going to answer

one of those questions today,

so please, try and contain your disappointment.

When most people think about augmented reality,

they think about "Minority Report" and Tom Cruise

waving his hands in the air,

but augmented reality is not science fiction.

Augmented reality is something that will happen

in our lifetime, and it will happen

because we have the tools to make it happen,

and people need to be aware of that,

because augmented reality will change our lives

just as much as the Internet and the cell phone.

Now how do we get to augmented reality?

Step one is the step I'm wearing right now,

Google Glass.

I'm sure many of you are familiar with Google Glass.

What you may not be familiar with

is that Google Glass is a device

that will allow you to see what I see.

It will allow you to experience what it is like

to be a professional athlete on the field.

Right now, the only way you can be on the field

is for me to try and describe it to you.

I have to use words.

I have to create a framework that you then fill in

with your imagination.

With Google Glass, we can put that

underneath a helmet,

and we can get a sense of what it's like

to be running down the field at 100 miles an hour,

your blood pounding in your ears.

You can get a sense of what it's like

to have a 250-pound man

sprinting at you

trying to decapitate you

with every ounce of his being.

And I've been on the receiving end of that,

and it doesn't feel very good.

Now, I have some footage to show you of what it's like

to wear Google Glass underneath the helmet

to give you a taste of that.

Unfortunately, it's not NFL practice footage

because the NFL thinks emergent technology

is what happens when a submarine surfaces,

but — (Laughter) — we do what we can.

So let's pull up some video.

(Video) Chris Kluwe: Go.

Ugh, getting tackled sucks.

Hold on, let's get a little closer.

All right, ready?

Go!

Chris Kluwe: So as you can see,

small taste of what it's like to get tackled

on the football field

from the perspective of the tacklee.

Now, you may have noticed there are

some people missing there:

the rest of the team.

We have some video of that

courtesy of the University of Washington.

(Video) Quarterback: Hey, Mice 54! Mice 54!

Blue 8! Blue 8! Go!

Oh!

CK: So again, this takes you a little bit closer

to what it's like to be on that field,

but this is nowhere what it's like

to be on the NFL.

Fans want that experience.

Fans want to be on that field.

They want to be their favorite players,

and they've already talked to me on YouTube,

they've talked to me on Twitter, saying,

"Hey, can you get this on a quarterback?

Can you get this on a running back?

We want that experience."

Well, once we have that experience with GoPro

and Google Glass,

how do we make it more immersive?

How do we take that next step?

Well, we take that step

by going to something called the Oculus Rift,

which I'm sure many of you are also familiar with.

The Oculus Rift has been described as one of

the most realistic virtual reality devices ever created,

and that is not empty hype.

I'm going to show you why that is not empty hype

with this video.

(Video) Man: Oh! Oh!

No! No! No! I don't want to play anymore! No!

Oh my God! Aaaah!

CK: So that is the experience of a man

on a roller coaster

in fear of his life.

What do you think that fan's experience

is going to be when we take the video footage

of an Adrian Peterson bursting through the line,

shedding a tackler with a stiff-arm

before sprinting in for a touchdown?

What do you think that fan's experience

is going to be when he's Messi

sprinting down the pitch

putting the ball in the back of the net,

or Federer serving in Wimbledon?

What do you think his experience is going to be

when he is going down the side of a mountain

at over 70 miles an hour

as an Olympic downhill skier?

I think adult diaper sales may surge.

(Laughter)

But this is not yet augmented reality.

This is only virtual reality, V.R.

How do we get to augmented reality, A.R.?

We get to augmented reality

when coaches and managers and owners

look at this information streaming in

that people want to see, and they say,

"How do we use this to make our teams better?

How do we use this to win games?"

Because teams always use technology to win games.

They like winning. It makes them money.

So a brief history of technology in the NFL.

In 1965, the Baltimore Colts

put a wristband on their quarterback

to allow him to call plays quicker.

They ended up winning a Super Bowl that year.

Other teams followed suit.

More people watched the game because it was more exciting.

It was faster.

In 1994, the NFL put helmet radios

into the helmets of the quarterbacks,

and later the defense.

More people watched games because it was faster.

It was more entertaining.

In 2023, imagine you're a player

walking back to the huddle,

and you have your next play displayed

right in front of your face on your clear plastic visor

that you already wear right now.

No more having to worry about forgetting plays.

No more worrying about having to memorize your playbook.

You just go out and react.

And coaches really want this,

because missed assignments lose you games,

and coaches hate losing games.

Losing games gets you fired as a coach.

They don't want that.

But augmented reality is not just

an enhanced playbook.

Augmented reality is also a way to take all that data

and use it in real time

to enhance how you play the game.

What would that be like?

Well, a very simple setup would be a camera

on each corner of the stadium looking down,

giving you a bird's-eye view

of all the people down there.

You also have information from helmet sensors

and accelerometers,

technology that's being worked on right now.

You take all that information, and you stream it to your players.

The good teams stream it in a way that the players can use.

The bad ones have information overload.

That determines good teams from bad.

And now, your I.T. department

is just as important as your scouting department,

and data-mining is not for nerds anymore.

It's also for jocks. Who knew?

What would that look like on the field?

Well, imagine you're the quarterback.

You take the snap and you drop back.

You're scanning downfield for an open receiver.

All of a sudden, a bright flash

on the left side of your visor lets you know,

blind side linebacker is blitzing in.

Normally, you wouldn't be able to see him,

but the augmented reality system lets you know.

You step up into the pocket.

Another flash alerts you to an open receiver.

You throw the ball, but you're hit right as you throw.

The ball comes off track.

You don't know where it's going to land.

However, on the receiver's visor,

he sees a patch of grass light up,

and he knows to readjust.

He goes, catches the ball,

sprints in, touchdown.

Crowd goes wild, and the fans are with him

every step of the way,

watching from every perspective.

Now this is something that will create

massive excitement in the game.

It will make tons of people watch,

because people want this experience.

Fans want to be on the field.

They want to be their favorite player.

Augmented reality will be a part of sports,

because it's too profitable not to.

But the question I ask you is,

is that's all that we're content to use augmented reality for?

Are we going to use it solely for our panem,

our circenses, our entertainment as normal?

Because I believe that we can use augmented reality

for something more.

I believe we can use augmented reality

as a way to foster more empathy

within the human species itself,

by literally showing someone

what it looks like

to walk a mile in another person's shoes.

We know what this technology is worth

to sports leagues.

It's worth revenue, to the tune of billions of dollars a year.

But what is this technology worth

to a teacher in a classroom

trying to show a bully

just how harmful his actions are

from the perspective of the victim?

What is this technology worth

to a gay Ugandan or Russian

trying to show the world what it's like

living under persecution?

What is this technology worth

to a Commander Hadfield or a Neil deGrasse Tyson

trying to inspire a generation of children

to think more about space and science

instead of quarterly reports and Kardashians?

Ladies and gentlemen, augmented reality

is coming.

The questions we ask, the choices we make,

and the challenges we face

are, as always, up to us.

Thank you.

(Applause)