Mobile Tackling Dummy with Dynamic Drive and Sensing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current training methods in sports and military training lack a safe and realistic alternative to live interactions, leading to injuries and inefficiencies in practice, as existing devices fail to accurately simulate the dynamic motion of a human player or participant.
Innovation Solution
A dynamic drive system and mobile device that mimics human motion, equipped with a drive system, pads, and self-stabilizing components, allowing for controlled and autonomous movement, and capable of executing pre-programmed routes, while providing real-time feedback and safety features such as collision avoidance and audio/visual alerts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If tackling dummies are used instead of live players, then participant safety is improved, but training realism deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by transforming the static tackling dummy into a mobile device that can move autonomously or be remotely controlled. The device includes a drive system with motors, wheels, and controllers that enable it to simulate the dynamic motion of live players, thereby maintaining training realism while preserving safety benefits.
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile device incorporates self-stabilizing components including gyroscopes, accelerometers, and control algorithms that automatically adjust the device's position and orientation during training drills. This self-service capability allows the device to maintain realistic motion patterns without requiring constant manual intervention, enhancing both safety and realism.
2Reliability
If contact during practice is limited, then participant safety is improved, but training effectiveness deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The mobile device serves as an intermediary between live players and the training objective. It absorbs the physical contact that would normally occur between players, allowing athletes to practice tackling techniques on the mobile device without risking injury to opposing players, thus maintaining both safety and training effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile device creates a copy of the live player experience by simulating human motion patterns, body positioning, and drill scenarios. This copying approach allows players to practice realistic tackling situations without the risks associated with full-contact drills against live opponents.
3Adaptability or versatility
If mobile devices with autonomous motion are deployed, then training realism is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The mobile device is segmented into distinct functional modules: a drive system with independent motor controllers for each wheel, a stabilization system with sensors and control algorithms, a power system with battery management, and a control system with wireless communication. This segmentation allows for easier manufacturing, maintenance, and troubleshooting while achieving complex autonomous motion capabilities.
Data Source
AI summary
A device, sometimes mobile, which simulates human motion, such as an omnidirectional sensing target. The target that can detect and differentiate between projectile (bullet) hits to the head, body, and one or more peripheral regions (e.g., arms, pelvis, legs) of a humanoid-form target, elicit a physical response from the mobile device based upon the sensing data, and provide real time feedback to a user (shooter) via a user-friendly interface. The target includes multiple layers of conductive material separated by one or more insulating layers. Forming can be by wrapping planar sensing panel into a three-dimensional configuration such that the panel occludes a three-dimensional volume and presents surfaces sensing projectiles from all directions. Associated circuitry is configured to have a bullet pass through multiple zones and to electronically detect the bullet path based on a combination and/or sequence of zones detecting bullet passage.