Vanderbilt researchers using artificial intelligence to help basketball players improve their shots

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Researchers at Vanderbilt University have developed artificial intelligence technology to potentially assist basketball players in improving their game on the court.

Jules White, associate dean for strategic learning programs and associate professor of computer science and computer engineering, and Carlos Olea, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Computer Science, developed an AI software called a temporal relational network to help determine the context and mechanics behind each shot a player takes. 

"I’m really excited about the potential for AI to help amateurs at home learn and improve," White told Fox News Digital. "I think there’s a limited amount of time and money that many people have to get access to coaching, so I think it expands the access to information that you need to improve."

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Sign at the entrance to Vanderbilt University. Researchers at the university have developed artificial intelligence technology to potentially assist basketball players in improving their game on the court.

The idea came about after a former student connected White and Olea with NOAH Basketball, a company that uses cameras and cutting-edge software to watch practices and gather shooting statistics for NBA and NCAA players. Using facial recognition and computer vision, NOAH generates detailed statistics about how and where somebody is shooting, the trajectory of the ball, and where they missed shots from. 

NOAH provided more than 50,000 hours of video footage, which the researchers used to classify five different shot types: Free throw, catch and shoot, off the dribble, jab step fake, and step back