Patrick Buckley How IoT technology is helping candy producers make sweet profits! From chocolate bars to lollipops, gumdrops to Haribos, the confectionary industry is now worth an estimated 210$ billion worldwide. With the industry experiencing strong growth, it is no surprise...
Olivia Brookhouse When will Robots find a place in the Smart Home? With the mass introduction of smart speakers, smart doorbells, smart fridges and even smart toilets there is a world of possibilities when it comes to innovating our homes. Whilst...
LUCA Case Study: LUCA Tourism and Royal Palace Visitors Analysis Madrid receives almost 6 million international tourists annually, who come to the city to see the history, soak up the sunshine and experience the culture. In addition to this...
LUCA Big Data combating crime in New York Original content from Lourdes Tejedor, Community Manager and Editor at Telefonica. One city: New York; one problem: crime. How can we contain and control it? When and where is it...
LUCA Deep Learning and satellite images to estimate the impact of COVID19 Motivated by the fact that the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic has caused worldwide turmoil in a short period of time since December 2019, we estimate the negative impact of...
LUCA Success Story: LUCA Transit and Highways England The transport industry is very receptive to the application of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence strategies, as there are clear use cases that can maximize a companies’ efficiency and...
LUCA Where are people from Madrid going during the upcoming December holidays? During the early December bank holiday many of us take the opportunity to relax, discover new places or return to our countries of origin. This time, as a further...
LUCA Case Study: How Jacobs is using LUCA Transit to Improve Transport Planning in the UK Transportation infrastructure forms an integral part of our daily journeys around the world. Whether it is workers on a daily commuter train, travelers catching a plane for a business...
Movistar Team: the best cyclists, the best behind the scenes team, the best strategy and Big DataLUCA 26 January, 2017 By Mikel Zabala, PhD (Sport Scientist, Lecturer at Granada University and member of the team of trainers for the Movistar Team), Javier Carro (Data Scientest en LUCA), y Pedro A. de Alarcón, PhD (Data Scientist en LUCA). The best cyclists, the best technical body, the best strategy and Big Data. How will the Movistar Team continue being the best in 2017? 29th of August 2016 seen the 10th edition of the Tour of Spain moved to the lakes of Covadonga. A 40km stretch called “el Mirador del Fito” a top level port with which the Movistar team will be taking with force, trying to avoid letting one of the other teams run away with the title. The first surprise came jut 7km into the race when Alberto Contador gave Nairo Quintana a run for his money as they were battling it out for the lead, when finally 3.6km before the end Nairo managed to push ahead to to take the lead. This is the beauty of cycling, it is led by some of the most physically fit sportsmen, with high endurance who are strategically coordinated so that all these factors can lead to victory. Behind these sportsmen exist a dedicated technical team who deal with planning their training slots, recovery and their physical and mental health. All this hard work that goes in behind the scenes is definitely work it when we witness scenes like the race between Contador and Quintana. Figure 1: Movistar Team observing their insights from the LUCA dashboard platform. In 2017, the Movistar team (directed by Eusebio Unzué) will be returning with Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde as the leaders of a panel that mixes youth and experience (10 of the cyclists are younger than 26). We want as much information as we can get, we want our cyclists to use the data we generate not only for training but also during the actual race so they can improve individually and as a team. To give ourselves an idea of the sheer quantity of data, in the Tour of Spain alone we were able to track more than 25 million movements generated by the 8 cyclists from the team. The Big Data revolution has also been put to use by cycling and at LUCA we went to put this information to practice. The biggest cycling competitions like the Tour of Spain, Italy and France are all carried out across hundreds of kilometres, hours of hard work and when it comes to the finish line it’s only really a few seconds that separate first and second place. Taking this into account with a sport as competitive and technical as professional cycling it is key that we use as whatever tools we can to create tighter margins for victory. Video: Chema Alonso, the CDO of Telefónica giving a brief speech at the presentation to the Movistar Team. According to this Harvard Business Review article, it only takes a mere 1% improvement with the determined variables to impact a race. This was the case for the UK Olympic cycling record. This can vary from carefully analysing all aspects that can effect the cyclists performance (from how aerodynamic their helmet is, to their journey time from the olympic village to the track.) and this can make all the difference in producing a win for the team. LUCA’s input will be applying the power of Big Data and the science behind said data to identify areas in which the team can update and improve their performance. During the 2017 Movistar Team presentation, Chema Alonso, Chief Data Officer at Telefónica presented the findings alongside Mikel Zabala (professor at Granada university) who has a wealth of experience both professionally and academically in Sport Science who is also part of the technical team of trainers for the cyclists. Mikel uses the computer generated data for both their off track training and to improve their track capabilities, like testing their strength or nutrition levels. This data allow Mikel to generate a series of complex variables and mathematical models that lead to the analysis of efficiency and wear and tear of each cyclist. This information is critical in terms of planning and personalization for each training plan. The end goal is to optimize the physical and mental perfomance of the cyclist throughout the race so that they can perform well as a team but also effectively recover. Figure 2: The President of Telefónica with the Movistar Team To analyse the data taken from each bike´s computer we can find free and compatible programmes like GoldenCheetah or TrainingPeaks that work with most data formats. Both of these platforms provide valuable and technical information however, we want to take the analysis further. Creating an analysis tool adapted to the specific needs of the team that uses the most up to date statistic and technical Machine Learning models. This allows us give unique information to further push the team ahead of their competition. Some of this work that we are developing includes: Time sensitive representation of the peak form of each cyclist; meaning we can predict and adjust training when it gets closer to each race.Determination of the context of training variables (height profile, weather), This can help to impact the efficiency of training subject to these variables.Contrasting the role of each cyclist: We can look at the efficiency and fatigue of each cyclist so that we can work on future race strategies and more effectively plan recovery periods. 2017 is there for the taking, so lets cycle towards victory! LUCA at #HackForGood5 LUCA events for your diary
Patrick Buckley How AI and Machine Learning help to develop vaccines As Christmas approaches this year, we have all been gifted the great news that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has shown to be both safe and effective in creating an immune...
Patrick Buckley Is AI key to successful Real Estate investment? As Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to shape the world around us, in today’s post we explore the impact of AI on commercial Real Estate investment. To what extent is...
LUCA Deep Learning and satellite images to estimate the impact of COVID19 Motivated by the fact that the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic has caused worldwide turmoil in a short period of time since December 2019, we estimate the negative impact of...
Patrick Buckley How should you speak to children about Artificial Intelligence? In previous years, people’s relationship with technology in general, and with artificial intelligence in particular, was based on “text”, usually using specialised programming languages. Today, however, artificial intelligence has...
Patrick Buckley The Smart Train – The key to future sustainable mobility Governments know that a functional and efficient transport system is key to economic growth and social development. Well run transport infrastructure unlocks the productive potential of an economy. Naturally,...
Patrick Buckley COVID-19 Shines a light on the huge possibilities of AI in Education In 2020 remote learning platforms have become essential for students around the world as a result the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these platforms incorporate Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology which continues to...