Commissioned by The Big Bang Fair, the UK's largest celebration of STEM, and created by GreenShoot Labs, the AI coach is designed to excite young people about science, technology, engineering and maths by highlighting how they can be used in "the beautiful game".
In what is believed to be an English football "first", the AI coach will recommend the club's starting 11 formation and tactics for upcoming competitive league fixtures. Once it is in use, the AI football coach stores data from each match and, as patterns begin to emerge related to the team's performance, it is programmed to evolve and make even more targeted recommendations.
A simple conversational interface (via an Amazon Echo), will allow the club's staff to easily speak with the AI about football tactics and team management without requiring expertise or training in AI.
To help the human coaching staff make tactical decisions during the ebb and flow of a game, the AI can also provide recommendations and inspiration around substitutions and game play in relation to real-time scores.
Dave Norman, manager of Wingate & Finchley FC, said: "The fundamentals of football are exactly the same whether they come from a virtual coach or a human one.
"As a teacher as well as a football manager I'm a big supporter of The Big Bang Fair's goal to get more kids into STEM, so I was more than happy to add an AI to the coaching team here at Wingate & Finchley. I think it will complement our set-up immensely and hopefully help us pick up three points."
Beth Elgood, director of communications at EngineeringUK, added: "At The Big Bang Fair we are always looking at ways to inspire young people and demonstrate to them, their teachers and their parents the many surprising applications of STEM.
"It's clear that AI already plays a significant role in all our lives and many future jobs are likely to need artificial intelligence skills. We wanted to combine the possibilities of AI with something we know a lot of young people enjoy - sport - to inspire young people. We hope the AI football coach can excite football-loving children and shine a light on the many ways STEM plays a role in our lives."
In addition to its role at Wingate & Finchley, the intention is for the AI football coach to be released as an Alexa Skill that anyone can download and interact with, whether they are professional football managers looking for a bit of AI assistance, a teacher who runs a school team or youngsters inspired by the possibilities of STEM.
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