More than 68 million Americans play a racquet sport, but improving their skills can be difficult.
Costs for lessons are becoming increasingly expensive, and feedback for technique isn’t always individualized.
But three Carnegie Mellon University students think they have an answer.
They launched a company called ServeSense.
Pitching their technology Wednesday to a panel of entrepreneurs at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Innovation Center at Hazelwood Green, students David Hershenson, Geronimo Carom and Mario Cruz showcased a sensor designed to fit inside a racquet handle. The device captures acceleration, timing, shot selection and contact angles, while artificial intelligence analyzes the swing data.
Billionaire Mark Cuban, a Mt. Lebanon native in attendance, took interest.
“I didn’t go in there with too many expectations, just excitement and ready to pitch my project and sell it to people,” said Hershenson, 22, and a CMU senior. “It’s something that I truly believe in, and hearing the investors share that excitement helps us actualize it into something people can buy.”
The event, dubbed the “Forge to Field AI Pitch Competition,” was held with the theme of the NFL Draft. The draft takes place Thursday through Saturday in Downtown Pittsburgh and the North Shore and is anticipated to draw upward of 500,000 people.
The event was in the style of a “Shark Tank” competition, made popular by the reality TV show of the same name, where Cuban has been among the judges.
Pittsburgh is prime for takeoff with innovations with AI and sports technology, Cuban said.
“Pittsburgh’s a great sports town. You’re going to get the best of both worlds, where the fans appreciate it but the people you hire will be all-in to make it happen.”
Pitches included Peachy Day, a headache and migraine care app; Flowstate, an AI video intelligence platform; Sensi Fit, hardware sensors for athletic training; Perforated AI, a tool that turns player data into injury risk signals; and MyoVerse, wearable neuromuscular sensing for performance and rehabilitation testing.
Earlier Wednesday, the Robotics Innovation Center held a showcase featuring more than 16 CMU-related startups and inventions. Projects there ranged from a humanoid robot that could throw a football to an exoskeleton that could track and review human movements.
The “sharks” (or, judges of the pitches) were Cuban; Ed Stack, executive chairman of Dick’s Sporting Goods and of Foot Locker; Deap Ubhi, director and global head of solutions architect for startups at Amazon Web Services; Jeanne Cunicelli, UPMC’s executive vice president; Will Allen, partner and co-founder of Pittsburgh-based startup MVP; and Troy Demmer, president and co-founder of Gecko Robotics.
“I’m a builder at heart, and it’s been fun to be working on a project like that,” Hershenson said. “Getting the opportunity to present it to experienced investors and hear their opinions and obviously raise money from them to fuel our project and keep us going was a great experience.”
Cuban advised ServeSense to not work against tennis coaches while implementing the technology, but rather partner with them.
Details of Cuban’s commitment weren’t immediately available.
A total of $1.8 million was offered to the startups.
“It’s really insightful,” Hershenson said. “We’re really at an early stage in our project, so there’s all sorts of things that we’re still considering. It was a wonderful opportunity to hear from such experienced investors.”
Izzy Hunter, a lifelong soccer player, is the founder and CEO of Sensi Fit. She said her technology is a sports performance system with cutting-edge sensors tracking game-like drills to provide coaches, athletes and parents with comprehensive and accurate athletic data.
Hunter put the technology into practice recently in Arizona, working with a group of offensive linemen preparing for the NFL Combine. The technology was used for agility running drills.
“Rep by rep, we were able to identify where that player slowed down in the drill,” Hunter said. “With one tweak from a trainer, we were able to shave off 0.5-second from their overall drill time. To you and me, 0.5 second doesn’t mean anything, but for guys at this level, it could be the difference between getting drafted or not.”