Rhino Australia launches Innovative sports robot to reduce football training concussions

February 4, 2021

Rhino Australia, a leading Australian sporting goods supplier, has launched an innovative robotic training device - the Mobile Virtual Player Sprint - aimed at helping reduce concussions during training across the major football codes.

The Mobile Virtual Player Sprint (MVP) Sprint is a remote-controlled, self-righting, mobile mechanical apparatus that was developed to replace athletes in offensive and defensive drills in American football.

The MVP can dodge, ‘side-step’, and move through 360 degrees while maintaining balance at all times. This all-around robotic capability allows MVP to adapt to training drills across the four football codes.

MVP can assist in football training with dribbling, evasion, corner kicks, and goal-keeper pressure drills while in AFL it will facilitate tackling, evasion, herding, chasing, and kick-pressure simulations.

In rugby league and rugby union, the MVP is ideally suited for defensive formations and tackling drills, evasion, angle, and hole running, and kick-chase/kick-pressure drills.

The MVP is designed to simulate the size and performance of a human athlete standing 175cm tall, weighing 75kg, and reaching speeds of up to 25km/h. The MVP is highly manoeuverable and agile.

In addition to making training safer, Rhino Australia says the MVP will also improve training outcomes by allowing players to maximise their participation in other skill activities.

Concussion in contact sports has become a major issue globally. Locally former Richmond player Shane Tuck, who died last year aged 38, was recently found to have had CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) caused by repeated impact trauma to the head. Graham ‘Polly’ Farmer and Danny Frawley were both diagnosed with CTE after they died in 2019.

In the NRL, Steve Folkes, the former Canterbury player and coach, who also died in 2019, became the first Australian rugby league player to be diagnosed with a brain disease commonly linked to CTE.

A number of former AFL, NRL, and rugby union players have gone public with their struggles from the repeated head traumas they experienced in their careers.

Rhino Australia Managing Director, Craig Brown notes “in Australia, the major football codes and also cricket, have had concussion assessment and management protocols in place for several years now.

“The MVP Sprint is an important step in helping to minimise the risk of concussion in training situations, where research shows 46% of concussions occur.”

The MVP began as a collaboration between Dartmouth head football coach Buddy Teevens and a group of engineers and athletes from Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering.

Together they developed the world’s first robot to help reduce unnecessary contacts, and the incidence of injuries suffered during football and other sporting practices.

They found that the use of MVP led to a 58% decrease in training-related concussions by reducing player-on-player contact.

Brown adds “the beauty of the MVP is that it allows players to experience game-like scenarios without putting teammates in harm’s way.

“We envisage that each club will buy six MVP units, freeing up six players to participate in both offensive and defensive drills rather than playing the part of the opponents. In addition to significantly reducing concussion-related injuries, MVPs will increase the all-round effectiveness and time efficiency of practice drills.”

MVP has a range of 400 metres, and has two modes, All Terrain & Grass/Turf Mode. It also has Automatic Tackle Shutoff at the moment of the impact, and Smart Control, a steering correction, and self-righting technology.

The MVP is a high-tech elite training product costing $8000 per unit. Explaining how six MVP units pay for themselves, Rhino Australia outlines the following scenario for an NRL team:

• A club has a squad of 17 players for each week of competition

• The average salary of these players is $300,000 per annum

• The number of matches played per year is 25

• If a club has five players concussed per year during training, and the average number of games missed due to concussion is two, this results in a total of 10 games missed per year due to concussion

• Financially, this equates to a loss of $120,000

• If concussion at training is reduced by 50% due to the MVPs, the club would save $60,000 and keep their top players on the field.

For more information go to rhinoaustralia.com/mvp

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