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New Delhi: Every season, the Indian Premier League (IPL) endeavours to bring in new features and aspects to its coverage of one of the biggest sporting leagues in the world, and undoubtedly the biggest cricket league. This year, the robot dog has become the cynosure of all eyes.
Named ‘Champak’, which has resulted in a lawsuit at the Delhi High Court, after a crowdsourcing effort, it made its debut on April 13 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium during the match between Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians.
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The curious looking device is a product of wTVision, a global leader in broadcast technology, in partnership with technical partner Omnicam and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Equipped with a microphone, a speaker, built-in voice recognition module and voice-interaction function, the four-legged robot, shaped like a dog, interacts with players, umpires and spectators during matches. The extent of interactions ranges from handshakes, jumps, making heart gestures and even a Namaste to Rajasthan Royals coach Rahul Dravid.
The objective behind the robot dog was to “add another flavour or colour to the broadcast,” explains Divyajot Ahluwalia, Founder and Director of wTVision Solutions Pvt. Ltd. which is based in Noida.
“We didn’t come up and say, okay, we want to make a dog. We were looking for something that is technology driven and something that is not entirely cricket and something that would work in this setup,” says Ahluwalia.
“When we came across (it), we saw a few things and a lot of things came together and we got hold of this product. And the moment we saw it, we saw potential around it. Everybody seemed to be happy around it because when was the last time you saw a robot, which is really supposed to be dry and technology driven, come and wave to you and move around you,” he elaborates.
The product has been six months in the making and was kept under wraps as conversations happened with the BCCI and the broadcasters. During this process, they identified the need to embed a camera to present a point-of-view from the ‘dog’.
“The challenge was that it’s a very shifty platform and the camera footage would be very unstable and shaky. So, we had to get a gimbal in place that could withstand that. And not just withstand that, it had to be very, very small, almost miniaturised,” explains Ahluwalia.
IPL’s robot dog has been named as Champak by the fans. (PTI)
“And because it’s remote controlled, we also had to do a RF (radio frequency) based video transmitter. And we had to do a pan tilt kind of a mechanism, all remote controlled. And yet it had to be very, very small,” he adds to explain the technical challenges.
The hiccups do not end there. Just one robot means it has to be dismantled after each use on an IPL night and then travels to the next location. Upon arrival, it is put together in an-hour-and-half before magic can begin all over again.
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What aspect of the robot dog do you find most appealing?
The logistical challenges around travelling with hardware persist too. With limitation on battery capacity on flights, a dedicated team is required to work in tandem for the eight-week tournament.
Its first glimpses on social media created plenty of noise. On X, it has been watched 95,000 times with 255 reposts. On Instagram it reaped 576,000 likes. The response has taken their team by surprise.
“We knew that it will have a role. We knew that players will interact with it. We knew that we will get good shots.”
“We knew that there will be some traction to it. But the moment when they put the whole piece together, and when they started putting out their promos, that’s when we realised, ‘Oh, this can go (in) this direction. And after that, it’s been a wildfire in a way,” says Ahluwalia.
What began as an experimental concept to enhance viewer experience with an ever-evolving IPL, has become a viral mascot of sorts — charming players, fans, and millions of viewers alike.
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