Case Study: Seattle Sport Sciences achieves rapid prototype-to-production and automated, sensor-driven soccer training with Digi International

Technology Changes the Way Athletes and Coaches Train

Seattle Sport Sciences, maker of the SideKick Techne Pro training machine, helps coaches and players sharpen soccer skills through repeatable drills. Facing an imminent NSCAA event, they needed a working prototype—and a path to a production-ready system—that non-technical coaches could deploy easily (“as easy to deploy as throwing cones”), with wireless sensors to vary shooting programs, track sensor data and record player scores, all on a very tight timeline.

Digi Wireless Design Services used Digi XBee technology to build a wireless sensor network of rugged, hockey-puck–sized nodes with lights and proximity detectors, a master unit and control software, producing an interactive demo in under a week and evolving it into the ISOTechne product. The result: automated control of ball direction, speed and spin, precise player-response tracking for objective performance comparison, and a much faster prototype-to-production cycle.

Seattle Sport Sciences

Jeff Alger

CEO