Students at Dartmouth’s Thayer College of Engineering have recently developed the newest technology in concussion awareness, The Mobile Virtual Player (MVP). The MVP is a remote controlled robot that football players tackle to reduce their exposure to concussions and other head injuries. The developers of the MVP aimed to stimulate realistic game scenarios with the overall goal of making football a safer sport. Watch here:
As you can see, the MVP is a free-standing, remote controlled, padded dummy, which costs about $3,500 to manufacture. It is controlled by a remote on the sideline. The developers are students at Dartmouth’s Thayer College of Engineering and they hope to improve the robots by making them able to run routes on their own.
The NFL and other colleges have already gained interest in the MVP: “They have no-tackle football practices at Dartmouth, so the players tackle the robot instead of each other,” said state Rep. Livvy Floren, R-Greenwich. “Right now, Dartmouth is the only one who has it, but I know they’ve been contacted by the NFL and other colleges.” The MVP may bring a whole new degree of safety to one of the most dangerous sports. Concussion awareness has been increasingly high in the most recent years of football and many parents and school officials think schools should be teaching concussion training just like they do CPR training.
According to the CDC, a concussion, which affects how the brain functions, is caused by a blow to the head or a blow to the body that causes the head to move rapidly inside the skull. Failing to treat a concussion immediately can prolong recovery, which is why many state representatives and athletic trainers are pushing for more training among players, parents, and school officials.
The MVP teaches players a safer way to tackle to prevent serious injuries on the field like concussions. Many teams recently have completely excluded tackling during practices and in instead have used bags, sleds, and stationary dummies. Dartmouth football was one of these teams and since replacing their drills with the MVP, the team’s number of tackles dropped by half.
These brilliant MVP dummies are another great example how sport innovation is helping to save lives. “This is going to allow football players to practice tackling safely,” Kastner, a five-year defensive lineman said. “I was fortunate enough to never have a concussion, but players on my team missed weeks after sustaining a blow to the head. And those injuries can affect you for the rest of your life.”