A Robot Quarterback Could Be the Future of Football Practice (msn.com) 25
Here's an interesting story from the Washington Post. (Alternate URL here...)
When the Green Bay Packers walked onto the practice field this week, they were greeted by an unusual new teammate: a robot. In videos on Twitter, a 6-foot tall white robotic machine simulates a punter, kicking balls at a rapid pace to players downfield. The robot, which holds six balls in a revolving cartridge, could also imitate a quarterback's style including the speed, arc and timing of a throw.
The Seeker is a robotic quarterback, kicker and punter rolled into one. It's a modern day version of a piece of football equipment, called a JUGS machine, that's been used to simulate throws and kicks to football players for decades. The Seeker, company officials say however, is a more accurate thrower and runs software to let players practice more advanced gameplay scenarios. he robot, created by Dallas-based Monarc Sport, is starting to gain adoption. Top college football programs, such as Louisiana State University, the University of Oklahoma and the University of Iowa, all count the Seeker as part of their training strategy. The Green Bay Packers are the first team in the National Football League to try the technology.
The Seeker's software allows players to customize how they practice with it. Athletes can catch balls from close to the machine to improve hand-eye coordination. They can also program the robot to throw a ball to a spot on the field, or simulate more-lifelike conditions by over or underthrowing a ball. Players wear a pager-like tag which allows the robot to track their location on the field, and throw a ball accurately within inches. "It gives so much opportunity for our guys to get reps without the need of having a quarterback there," said Ben Hansen, the director of football administration at Iowa, where the technology was first tested. "That's a huge plus...."
One of the most helpful parts of the technology, he said, is being able to program it to throw passes that simulate game day conditions. Unlike the JUGS machine, he said, which doesn't have software to pass in random patterns, the Seeker can purposefully throw passes that aren't perfect.... A case study published in April by Microsoft, which provides the software ecosystem for the robot, noted that West Virginia University's dropped passes rate fell to four percent in 2021, down from 53 percent the past season after introducing the robot into training.
The university's senior athletic director said the robot deserved a "share of the credit" for that outcome.
The Seeker is a robotic quarterback, kicker and punter rolled into one. It's a modern day version of a piece of football equipment, called a JUGS machine, that's been used to simulate throws and kicks to football players for decades. The Seeker, company officials say however, is a more accurate thrower and runs software to let players practice more advanced gameplay scenarios. he robot, created by Dallas-based Monarc Sport, is starting to gain adoption. Top college football programs, such as Louisiana State University, the University of Oklahoma and the University of Iowa, all count the Seeker as part of their training strategy. The Green Bay Packers are the first team in the National Football League to try the technology.
The Seeker's software allows players to customize how they practice with it. Athletes can catch balls from close to the machine to improve hand-eye coordination. They can also program the robot to throw a ball to a spot on the field, or simulate more-lifelike conditions by over or underthrowing a ball. Players wear a pager-like tag which allows the robot to track their location on the field, and throw a ball accurately within inches. "It gives so much opportunity for our guys to get reps without the need of having a quarterback there," said Ben Hansen, the director of football administration at Iowa, where the technology was first tested. "That's a huge plus...."
One of the most helpful parts of the technology, he said, is being able to program it to throw passes that simulate game day conditions. Unlike the JUGS machine, he said, which doesn't have software to pass in random patterns, the Seeker can purposefully throw passes that aren't perfect.... A case study published in April by Microsoft, which provides the software ecosystem for the robot, noted that West Virginia University's dropped passes rate fell to four percent in 2021, down from 53 percent the past season after introducing the robot into training.
The university's senior athletic director said the robot deserved a "share of the credit" for that outcome.
Not yet realistic (Score:5, Funny)
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Seahawks lost Russell Wilson (Score:2)
This robot might be a better alternative than the two guys that are left.
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Yeah. It's hard to see what the Seahawks are thinking. Between Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson, they chose the wrong guy to keep.
What robot? (Score:3)
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It's a perfect match for an article that tries to hype the truth beyond all recognition.
Horrible Gimmick (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Horrible Gimmick (Score:4, Informative)
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It's worth doing the experiment. Either it works or it doesn't. Either way, we learn.
I agree that depriving lower level QBs important practice isn't a good idea -- hopefully a sensible coaching staff will know this. On the other hand, if there isn't a 1-1 match between receiver demand for practice throws, and QB supply for them, then not using the robot could be depriving receivers of practice. And if your lower level QBs can't throw as accurately as your starting and no. 2 QBs, then perhaps the receivers a
There is one HUGE difference between pass and punt (Score:2)
The punter does not want the receiver to get the ball, the passer does. In other words, to simulate a punt, you just have to launch the ball downfield, to simulate a pass, the passing machine would have to track the receiver, anticipate his position when the ball arrives and throw the pass accordingly.
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The punter does want the receiver to get the ball, preferably at the 1 yard line.
Basketball is more of my sport, if I wanted to practice catching passes, I'd want it in the area so I could catch it but vary where so I get good at handling any kind of pass. Its not so much where each pass is, the volume matters more. That's where this machine comes in. Repetition is the mother of all skill. Only a small number of QBs on a team, but more receivers, kick off return squads, etc that need to catch a flying footb
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Well, no. What you really want him to do is to catch it and drop it so your own team can grab it again. The point, though, is that if you're trying to practice for your return catcher, you're dealing with a "hostile" ball, one that wasn't hurled his way as perfectly as possible so he can grab and run with it, as would be the case in a pass.
Need a basketball version (Score:1)
Can they make a basketball version that passes like Jason Williams? https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
JUGS machine? (Score:2)
I would have thought there would be more comments under this story already, given the obvious interest to slashdotters.
What's that? Jugs sports? Even better.
Oh, JUGS sports. I see. Interestingly neither the company nor the machine is on Wikipedia yet...
Deep pockets (Score:2)
As soon as the contract was signed (Score:2)
...the robot quarterback began bitching about the money.
My very first thought (Score:2)
wait til it gets hacked (Score:2)