The beginnings of the sport go back centuries, if not millennia, of antiquity, based on the tradition and culture of the different peoples and civilizations. Many sports are still being born today, some clearly betting on technology, such as esports without going any further.
However, today we are faced with a separate point. The AKQA design agency presents Speedgate, a new sport created by Artificial Intelligence from 400 different sports modalities.
We have already seen other projects that make use of applied AI in medicine, finance or aviation, but what this unique experiment shows us is that AI can also be used for creative purposes. Not only that, but to create concepts and rules, like a new sport, that are the result of centuries of evolution and the combined expressiveness of millions of individuals.
A new sport?
To begin with, Speedgate is the result of merging dozens of sports disciplines to create a new sport, after several previous attempts that resulted in unplayable practices, such as explosive frisbee (?).
Using machine learning techniques, the AKQA agency processed data on the rules and elements of up to 400 different sports modalities. The information collected was sent to a neural network that, after processing such an amount of data, raised the basic concepts to develop new sports never seen before.
The company then had to filter several of the proposals until it was left with a few options. In the end, as we all already know, Speedgate was the one who took the cake .
But the thing does not end there. The AKQA agency also used Artificial Intelligence to create even the logo and slogan of the new game : face the ball to be the ball to be above the ball (“face the ball to be the ball to be above the ball ”). Ok everything is correct.
How do you play?
First we are going to define the necessary elements to carry out this discipline:
Field: a field formed by 3 contiguous circles of 60 meters in diameter (for a total of 180 meters in length of the field) with three gates (two sticks driven into the surface), one central and two lateral as goals.
Players: two teams consisting of 6 players, 3 forwards and 3 defenders will face each other.
Elements: a ball very similar to that of rugby that can be passed with the hands or with the foot.
Knowing this, we go with the rules. Each team of six players will face each other on the field of play. The main objective will be to score in one of the two side goals . Of course, to score, you will first have to pass the ball through the central door, in which the players will not be able to stay. Only then will your team be able to score in either of the two side goals and score the goal.
Another thing to keep in mind is that physical contact is prohibited , so everything will depend on our skill and strategy.
Official Speedball League
Although the sport was raised as an exercise for Portland Design Week, the AKQA agency is taking the possibility of presenting Speedgate to the Oregon Department of Sports very seriously in order to make it official in some way. In fact, the company itself may be hosting a little internal league this summer, while encouraging potential fans to set up their own leagues. Thus, if a large enough community is created, the relevant authorities are more likely to listen to them.
What do you think? Will we have Speedball for a while?