Due to its speed, basketball has always presented a unique challenge to the blind and visually impaired community. Michelob ULTRA believes It’s Only Worth It If You Enjoy It, so we have accessible, innovative technology that makes it possible for the blind and visually impaired to fully enjoy and experience basketball like never before.
And we demonstrated it on the grandest scale possible: Cameron Black, a blind person, commentated a Knicks game, live on TV.
Meet Cameron Black.
Cameron Black was born completely blind, but it didn’t stop him from pursuing his passion for sports and becoming a local Kansas sports journalist. But one dream always felt out of reach: becoming a sports broadcaster.
Until now.
On April 21st, Cameron changed the game for everyone, and became the first blind basketball commentator on TV.
TURNING BASKETBALL DATA INTO A LANGUAGE FOR THE BLIND AND THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED TO ENHANCE THEIR EXPERIENCE.
Michelob ULTRA has worked with Cameron Black to develop an accessible, innovative technology that will help all blind and visual impaired people to fully and deeply understand all the intricacies of basketball.
haptics with a vibration base language
We developed an entire language that allows people to truly feel and experience the game through haptic feedback and vibrations via a haptic vest and haptic wearables such as shoes, forearms and hands. The vibrations vary in strength and pattern to create a communication form with thousands of different combinations.
haptics with a vibration base language
We developed an entire language that allows people to truly feel and experience the game through haptic feedback and vibrations via a haptic vest and haptic wearables such as shoes, forearms and hands. The vibrations vary in strength and pattern to create a communication form with thousands of different combinations.
refreshable braille with generative a.i.
Using an A.I. language model, complex basketball data is translated in real-time into simple to understand game-play information and consumed by Cameron in an 80-cell braille display.
refreshable braille with generative a.i.
Using an A.I. language model, complex basketball data is translated in real-time into simple to understand game-play information and consumed by Cameron in an 80-cell braille display.
spatial audio that places cameron in the center of the court
Using specifically place spatial and immersive audio, Cameron had a complete 360-degree audio experience through an array of speakers that sonically placed him in the center of the game
spatial audio that places cameron in the center of the court
Using specifically placed spatial and immersive audio, Cameron will have a complete 360 degrees audio experience through an array of speakers that sonically place him in the center of the game.
changing
the game for
everyone.
changing the game
for everyone.
It's Only Worth It If You Enjoy It. Michelob ULTRA will be making this technology available to everyone with a free app that uses sound, haptics, spatial audio, specifically designed for the visually impaired. The app will be released in October 2023 to kick-off-next year's NBA season.
This initiative launches a 3-year commitment to make enjoying sports more accessible to the blind and visually impaired community with plans to enable this innovative technology across soccer, football and baseball.
changing
the game for
everyone.
It's Only Worth It If You Enjoy It. Michelob ULTRA will be making this technology available to everyone with a free app that uses sound, haptics, spatial audio, specifically designed for the visually impaired. The app will be released in October 2023 to kick-off-next year's NBA season.
This initiative launches a 3-year commitment to make enjoying sports more accessible to the blind and visually impaired community with plans to enable this innovative technology across soccer, football and baseball.