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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.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 09 2016, @09:47PM
There's quite a bit of truth to the previous post, though. A majority of former professional players show signs of brain injury from playing football. It doesn't seem to apply to players who only played at the high school level, though. Whether that's because young brains are more resilient or young bodies don't hit as hard or simply that the damage is cumulative and they haven't played enough to suffer yet, is not known at this time. It does seem that even routine hits contribute, meaning that there is no safe way to play football unless you are a kicker.
I don't necessarily see it as a moral issue. Professional players can make their own decisions and some in fact have opted to retire rather than risk injury, even some players without a concussion history. But it does mean that the NFL has a long - term problem on its hands. If the concussion problem isn't solved, parents will stop letting their children play football. The next generation of players, or maybe the generation after that, could all end up playing soccer, baseball, or something else.
Attempts to fix the problem with penalties are not working. This mostly makes the games turn on flags instead of plays, ruining the game. And it may not even help.