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posted by martyb on Sunday October 09 2016, @04:42PM   Printer-friendly
from the who-are-you-calling-dummy? dept.

IEEE has a story about how former Dartmouth students (including a former Dartmouth football player) have created a Robot Football player that may help prevent concussions. It works by having the robot tackled during practice instead of a person getting hit.

The current version is like a giant Weeble controlled by a coach. The Pittsburg Steelers like them and have bought two so far.

As summarized on the Mobile Virtual Player web site:

Buddy Teevens, head football coach at Dartmouth College, was tired of his players injuring one another during practice. So, he banned live tackling in practice. From that day forward, Dartmouth football decided to focus on fundamental tackling drills to improve performance.

By introducing these new technique-specific tackling drill circuits, his players not only became better tacklers, but also remained healthier throughout the season. To simulate live tackling in the most effective and realistic way, Coach Teevens introduced the Mobile Virtual Player (MVP) – the world's first and only motorized, self-righting, mobile training dummy.

Ultimately, the modifications made to practice along with the use of high-tech solutions like the MVP helped Dartmouth to its 18th Ivy League Championship this past season.

The MVP helped increase performance and reduce injuries for the Dartmouth defense, playing a big role in its finish as the No. 1 ranked scoring defense in the country!

The IEEE story logs the long hard slog from conception to product — with multiple re-conceptions and re-implementations through trial-and-error along the way — and provides a very readable example of the challenges involved in bringing an idea to market.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 09 2016, @06:10PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 09 2016, @06:10PM (#412140)

    That is rather a small vision of the future.

    In the year 2100 robot players who look and move like real players on steroids are linked via VR/implants to real players with zero-lag interfaces. They hit so hard that sometimes their robotic limbs come off.

    The rules around safe tackles are all gone - incl. games like rugby and soccer. Many other features are introduced and the fields of play are larger. No breaks. No swapping of teams.

    Mid game fights are very interesting.

    And then there are the martial arts leagues...

    and the sex robot leagues...

    and the midget robot leagues...

    and the transformers leagues...

    I find sports increadible boring but even I would watch this live.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 09 2016, @07:29PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 09 2016, @07:29PM (#412161)

    Transforming sex midget leagues?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 10 2016, @02:44AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 10 2016, @02:44AM (#412277)

      Where do I sign up?

      And for irony they will use human tackle bags during training to avoid damage to the robots...