KickLogic - First-Touch Trainer

The Need

Soccer (Football) is arguably one of the world's most popular sports. Millions play the game and hundreds of millions are entertained by it - either at the soccer grounds or through television.

Despite this, there is a lack of high-tech machinery incorporated in training to improve the skills of players. This is in contrast to other sports such as Baseball, Golf, and Tennis which have multiple technological solutions that aid their athletes in improving their skills.

Consequently, the KickLogic group has been created to fill this void. After extensive research and surveys conducted with Soccer players and coaches, it was found that there is quite a demand for technology to help improve a player’s ball control techniques. In particular, a strong first touch ability was deemed the most important skill in order to reach a higher level of competition.

First touch is the essence of ball control. It is the first contact or the “first touch” with the ball that determines whether the player can follow up with the ball and execute a pass, a shot or a dribble.

The Mission

KickLogic will find an automated solution to assist soccer players in developing and perfecting their first touch skills. In particular, this product will be targeted towards automating a First Touch drill where a volunteer ball server is required.

The automated First Touch solution can consistently put on game-like spins or curves on the ball when launching it. These passes would have a high degree of accuracy and precision and the automated drill would thus be more effective and efficient than a manually run drill.

The Result

In order to develop a complete First Touch Solution, the product should be broken down into its three main components: Mechanical, Electrical and Software. In each of the design components, a modular approach was used in drafting blueprints that would allow KickLogic to build the First Touch Solution.