Meet ‘Champak’: IPL’s viral robot dog which is winning heart and defines the broadcast innovation again. Cricket news

New Delhi: Every season, the Indian Premier League (IPL) tries to bring new features and aspects for the coverage of one of the largest sports leagues in the world, and undoubtedly the largest cricket league. This year, the robot dog has become a blank of all eyes.The nominee ‘Champak’, resulting in a trial in the Delhi High Court, made his debut on 13 April at the Arun Jaitley Stadium during the match between Delhi Capital and Mumbai Indians.Go beyond the border with our YouTube channel. Subscribe now!Curious looking device is a product WTVVionA global leader in broadcast technology in partnership with technical partner Omnim And the Control Board for Cricket in India (BCCI).Equipped with a microphone, a speaker, the underlying voice recognition module and the voice-interaction function, a four-foot robot, a dog-shaped, interacts with players, umpires and audiences during matches. The border of the interaction is with a gesture, the heart gestures, and even Rajasthan Royals coach Rahul Dravid.The aim behind the robot dog was “to add another taste or color to broadcasting,” explains the founder and director of WTVISION SOVT Divyajot Ahluwalia. Ltd. which is located in Noida.“We did not come up and said, okay, we want to make a dog. We were looking for some things that are technology and something that is not completely cricket and something that will work in this setup.”“When we came in (IT), we saw some things and a lot of things came together and we caught this product. And the moment we saw it, we saw the ability around it.It has been six months to make the product and interacted with BCCI and Broadcasters. During this process, he identified the need to embed a camera to introduce a point-off-view from ‘dog’.“The challenge was that it is a very bright platform and the camera footage would be very unstable and unstable. Therefore, we have to get a gimbal at the place that could face it. And not only faced it, it was very, very small, almost small.”

The Robot Dog of the IPL is named as Champak by fans. (PTI)

“And because it is remote controlled, we also had to do an RF (radio frequency) based video transmitter. And we were controlled by a mechanism like a PAN tilt, all the remotes. And yet it had to be very small, very small,” he asks to explain technical challenges.Hiccup does not end there. Just a robot means that it will have to be destroyed after each use at IPL night and then traveling to the next location. On arrival, it is kept together before one-hour and half, before the magic can resume.

Logistic challenges also persist to travel with hardware. A dedicated team is required to work together for an eight -week tournament, with a range on battery capacity on flights.Its first glimpse made a lot of noise on social media. On X, it has been viewed 95,000 times with 255 reposts. It made 576,000 likes on Instagram. The response has surprised his team.“We knew that it would have a role. We knew that the players would talk to it. We knew that we would get good shots.”“We knew that there would be some traction for this. But the moment when they put the entire piece together, and when they started excluding their promo, when we realized, ‘Oh, it could go in this direction (in this direction). And after that, it is a kind of forest fire,” Ahluwalia says.Sometimes the viewer began as an experimental concept to enhance the viewer experience with the IPL to develop, become a type of viral mascot-a skilled player, fan, and millions of spectators equally.