"Set Up a Fitness Center in Virtual Space" KT Builds XR Studio

[Asia Economy Reporter Seolgina Cho] As indoor sports facilities such as Taekwondo academies, yoga studios, and fitness centers face usage restrictions due to COVID-19, causing ongoing difficulties for small business owners, a facility has been established where anyone can set up a gym in a virtual space and run a sports coaching business.

On the 29th, KT announced that it has built a "Sports Coaching Studio" that utilizes XR (Extended Reality)-based immersive media technology to produce sports coaching content, in collaboration with the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation (KSPO) and AfreecaTV.

The newly opened "Sports Coaching Studio" was developed with support from the National Sports Promotion Fund. KT and AfreecaTV participated in building and expanding the non-face-to-face sports coaching platform KEEPFIT, which covers three disciplines: Taekwondo, yoga, and fitness.

First, KT will establish dedicated studios in Mia, Gangbuk-gu, Seoul, and in Bucheon and Hanam branches in Gyeonggi Province. Using XR Matrix View technology, these studios can deliver three-dimensional views of exercise movements or specific postures from a 210-degree angle. The videos are enhanced with 3D joint information, enabling more detailed transmission of exercise postures in a non-face-to-face environment than before.

Additionally, the plan includes ▲providing non-face-to-face coaching services via IPTV ▲supporting STT (Speech-to-Text) subtitle services ▲offering filming equipment and editing rooms to sports facility operators.

Moreover, equipped with a smartphone-based wireless filming system and real-time video analysis kiosks, high-quality videos can be broadcast live or recorded without expensive equipment. Live broadcasts will be delivered in a one-on-one lecture format, with plans to add features allowing one instructor to teach multiple participants.

Baek Gi-dong, Executive Director of KT Enterprise Division’s Space & Video DX Business, said, “With the establishment of the non-face-to-face studio, we plan to continuously introduce various non-face-to-face immersive media services starting this year,” adding, “Through the non-face-to-face sports coaching studio, we will contribute to the rapid digital transformation (DX) of indoor sports businesses.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.