Technology has made its way to helping people achieve their peak fitness. Puma, one of the most popular sportswear brands, has teamed up with MIT researchers to make BeatBot to help runners get faster.
The Puma BeatBot is not any ordinary fitness gear. It's not even a wearable tech. Runners and sprinters who wish to step up their game can use the machine to run faster by beating their own personal records.
Advertising agency J. Walter Thompson New York hatched the idea of the BeatBot, which was made together with MIT researchers and a NASA robotics engineer. The Puma BeatBot is designed to push a runner's limit by giving them real visual target to beat, hence the name.
Sometimes, a stopwatch isn't enough to beat. A running partner is not always present either and that's where the Puma BeatBot comes in.
The personal records of the runner can be inputted on the machine. If they want, they can even try to beat Usain Bolt's best time because the Puma BeatBot can reach speeds of 44-km per hour, according to Fast CoCreate.
Runners will have to catch up and run faster than the BeatBot if they want to improve. It is self-driving and can follow a line which makes it great for runners who usually practice on tracks.
The machine scans and follows a line on the track using its nine engineered infrared sensors. It measures the speed and distance of both the machine itself and the runner using wheel revolutions that are monitored using an Arduino.
All of the data is processed in real-time in order for the BeatBot to navigate the track, keep its speed and to stay on the track. It even has GoPro cameras situated at the front and back of the machine for reviewing the performance later at home.
There isn't any actual price yet but it is already expected to be quite expensive. Puma is offering the BeatBot to its sponsored teams and athletes, Engadget has learned.
Florent Imbert, JWT New York executive, said that they processed eight prototypes for the machine. They considered several aspects such as the lag of the processing power and the weight of the machine itself.
In the future, the Puma BeatBot could be made more affordable for average consumers. However, the machine would be exclusive to the sponsored teams for now.