New technology from AT&T will debut on the football field at Gallaudet University during homecoming this weekend.
Technology has truly come along nicely because these state-of-the-art helmets are 5G and will allow their deaf and hard-of-hearing students to play football.
The Gallaudet Bison are ready to make their own statement as they and AT&T announced Thursday that the Bison will step onto their home turf at Hotchkiss Field on Saturday against the Hilbert College Hawks while using a 5G-connected helmet.
The helmet will allow coaches on the sideline to select a play from a tablet that will send the play to a lens inside the helmet. The quarterback wearing the helmet will receive the play in augmented reality on the digital display located within the visor.
The technology is meant to even the playing field for Gallaudet, a school for deaf and hard-of-hearing students.
“(AT&T) came to us and said they wanted to know how they could improve our experience. They wanted to understand our challenges, our struggles, our successes,” Keller told USA TODAY Sports in ASL through a translator. “We came up with the idea for this solution and innovate football further and it’s really been a beautiful thing from the very beginning. We were able to work with them for two years, came to production and I think it’s really going to be groundbreaking and change the football world. And it’ll just improve access not only for deaf people, but will have an impact on the college and NFL level, for sure.”
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“The (5G) team is constantly thinking of what are ideas, partnerships that we could go engage to bring the future of connectivity to life?” he told USA TODAY Sports. “So this is one that I think everybody was immediately excited about. ‘Hey, let’s go take a look at this and see if a 5G-connected helmet could be interesting.’ I think the reaction from the players and the coaches and even our own internal teams has been, ‘Wow, this is actually a really great application of building something on top of this 5G network that has a lot of play in this particular instance, but also in sports and football in general.’”
AT&T says the technology eliminates the gap for deaf and hard-of-hearing athletes, and reduces miscommunication and unwarranted penalties.
The new helmets will make their on-field debut during Gallaudet’s home game against Hilbert College on Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for noon.
In addition to the 5G-connected helmet and devices, AT&T is donating $500,000 to the school’s football program.
