Inspiring Sports Technology
Euro 2012 football – adidas TANGO 12 ball
Wednesday, December 14th, 2011
Not just a football more a highly engineered sporting sphere
A busy year of sport is eagerly expected for 2012 and 2013 including some of the most widely viewed events around the world: The London Olympics Games, The Rugby Lions Tour of Australia and of course the UEFA European Football Championship held by joint hosts Poland and Ukraine.
The 2008 European championships, or Euros, held in Austria and Switzerland attracted circa 155 million live TV viewers over the tournament, a 33.9% increase on the 2004 Euros.
It is tradition that a new football is designed for every UEFA Euros and FIFA World Cup. The 2012 UEFA Euros is no exception and adidas, the official match ball supplier have designed the novel TANGO 12 football.
This ball is based on the modern FIFA 2010 World Cup football the ‘Jabulani’ (The most widely purchased football of all time, selling over 13 million replicas in 2010) and the balls of yesteryear; Tango River Plate (1980), Tango Mundial (1984) and Tango European (1988).
The TANGO 12 ball incorporates a 32 panel construction where the panels are thermally bounded together. This method forms the seams that are commonly expected on modern footballs, and then a protruding micro surface texture is applied to the outer surface. With 100’s of hours spent on wind tunnel testing, robot kicking trials and player testing, the design, dimensions and distribution of the surface textures (seams and micro texture) have been extensively measured and optimised. This ensures the ball produces a favourable performance, in terms of dynamic and aerodynamic characteristics. It also meets all FIFA denomination programme regulations and undergone rigorous durability tests as shown in the video in the link below:
It is clear from this video that footballs are much more than just the fancy graphics and advertising…
So next time you pick up a football take a closer look and see whether it is glued or stitched, 32 or 24 panels, smooth or micro surface textured.
Sports engineering is still in its infancy and the sophisticated equipment like this with the help of the adidas innovation team, Loughborough Sports Technology Institute and other innovative technical departments, within sporting goods brands, are all helping to push forward the boundaries of science in sport that gives benefits to every sports enthusiast.
Article by David Rogers
New way for designers to generate ideas and shapes using CAD
Monday, December 5th, 2011
Although not strictly sports, a Loughborough academic has designed a neat tool to help inspire that great new shape which you are looking for. It is described as follows:
“EvoShape is an innovative new CAD application that generates and evolves original styling concepts. Early trials suggest EvoShape can trigger inspiration and creativity, enable the rapid evolution of unique styling concepts, and reduce the time between concept generation and digital modelling. Interactive and highly intuitive, it can also be used by clients and end-users directly, creating the possibility of uniquely desirable customised products.”
Watch the video here:
Paralympian aided by customised footwear in Sports Technology Institute
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011
“It’s not about what I can’t do, it’s about what I can do.” Ben Rushgrove
Film introduced by John Edwards and Ben Rushgrove, with a Q&A after the film.
An inspirational documentary film by Dr John Edwards, Programme Director of The Sports Technology Course and Senior Lecturer in the Wolfson School at Loughborough. The film traces the battles of one of Britain’s leading Paralympic sprinters, Ben Rushgrove.
Following Ben’s story from birth to the Beijing Paralympics, and beyond to the World Championships in New Zealand, BEN is part of the current new wave of documentary films. It is an extraordinary insight into the world of one of Britain’s best hopes for London 2012, as he prepares with his tightly knit training group and their revolutionary coach.
Adidas five fingers shoes- AdiPure
Sunday, November 20th, 2011
With the great success of Vibram FiveFingers it was only going to be a matter of time before one of the big brands created a similar product. The Adidas AdiPure gets over the patent by changing its toe construction – perhaps?
Sportswear for emergency workers?! – PeakZero
Saturday, November 12th, 2011
About time our emergency workers got some sportswear. Check this video out!
