Gadgets on the gridiron

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin says he’s always interested in ways to use technology to teach football. So when he learned about a robotic dummy developed for the Ivy League co-champion Dartmouth College football team that not only improved player performance, but also reduced injuries during practice, he was eager to try it out.

Dubbed “MVP” for Mobile Virtual Player, the remote-controlled dummy was developed by Dartmouth’s Thayer School of Engineering after Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens banned player-on-player tackling during practice. He still needed his players to practice tackling, but wanted a tool that would help avoid injuries.

Tomlin has been experimenting with the MVP during preseason training not only for tackling practice, but also in passing drills and as a running back, according to a Steelers press release.

“The applications we are quickly finding are endless,” Tomlin said. “It never gets tired. It runs at an appropriate football speed. … It’s funny, you just put it on the field and watch the guys, and they show you the applications. It’s been fun watching that.”

The spin-off company that now produces MVP reports the robotic tackling dummy reduced injuries in Dartmouth’s defensive line and actually improved player performance.

“We were tasked with, how can we practice tackling without utilizing another player?” said Elliot Kastner, a former Dartmouth defensive tackle and co-founder/director of research and development for Mobile Virtual Player. “What it comes down to is, repetitive impact on players is what we are trying to eliminate. We realized the safest thing to do is pull one of those players out of the drill. It was introduced to reduce player-on-player contact.”

The Steelers are experimenting with a test version of MVP and would like to have it available for regular training by 2017. Players who at first found it strange to see a dummy cutting, weaving, and running across the field are now getting used to it.

“It’s [a] pretty neat contraption,” said defensive end Stephon Tuitt. “Being able to chase it opens our mind and opens us a little bit. It’s faster than we think, faster than it looks. You realize it’s fast when you have to catch up to it. You have to keep running.”