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Pittsburgh Steelers Using Robots for Practice?

6/1/2016

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What the number one concern that NFL players, and coaches have, are the fatal injuries and possible concussions that their players get with the tough physical impact between another football player. Not only could possible physical injuries happen during the actual games, but they could also happen during training and practice. That is why, the professional American football team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, are experimenting with robots, to try to replace some of their players that are used during practices. These are training robots, that help their players practice their physical skills specifically made for tackling action, which was probably a rough action to perform on a real person. The real question here is, will these training robots actually help the Pittsburgh Steelers or any other American football team help them on their game performance? 

This training robot is called, MVP, no it does not stand for "most valued player" instead, it stands for Mobile Virtual Player. 
This robot is completely remote controlled and is fully equipped with motors to be able to move around. 
MVP may look like just a regular punching bag or something, but ​actually it is fully equipped and has a purpose. 
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According to Oregonlive.com, "The MVP was initially developed and implemented at Dartmouth College after coach Buddy Teevens banned live tackling during practices. The engineers at Dartmouth created the MVP, which has the ability to cut, weave, stop and start - with varying speeds." In the beginning, this robot was only used for college football training, but as coaches began to realize how beneficial this robot came to be, they began to introduce it to the professional football teams in this case, the Pittsburgh Steelers. 
Also, Oregonlive.com, they state, "It's a great tool from a tackling tech standpoint," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. "In today's NFL, with player safety the focus that it is, I think it's going to provide opportunities to improve in that area without the hand-to-hand or man-to-man combat associated with that teaching." Watching a robot flying around the field takes some getting used to, but the players say they're adjusting, especially since the robot doesn't get tired of running.  
"It's faster than we think, faster than it looks," defensive end Stephon Tuitt said. "You realize it's fast when you have to catch up to it. You have to keep running."
The MVP is a robot that HELPS football athletes train in their practices, but COULD it ever be possible that once more of these robots are created, can they ever take over sports? I mean, it seems rather like science fiction right now, but robots are now taking jobs, but could they ever take control of WHO plays the sports? 
Like I said, this idea might seem a little bit over the line, but referring to the MVP that is helping the Pittsburgh Steelers, we will just have to wait and see if the is robot has actually helped them improve on their performance during the games? Will they be better in general? Or will they improve on JUST on their tackling skills, because that is what the MVP is made for? Will they possibly do worse than how they were usually performing? I guess, we will just have to see and wait for the results of the MVP! 
1.) First image of training session courtesy of culturedrip.com.  2) Video courtesy of YouTube.com/spotlightsport.  3) Soccer video courtesy of YouTube.com/nikesoccer. 
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