This coming fall, a smart punching bag called BotBoxer will debut at gyms across the country. Not only will the bag quantify how hard you can hit, but it will even dodge your left hooks and uppercuts. Taking out your frustrations just got a lot harder.
Made by SkyTechSport, BotBoxer earns an individual’s boxing technique and can dodge punches to simulate a real boxing opponent—though without the ability to punch back. BotBoxer also displays visualized statistics for every blow and saves user results to the cloud for reference. The machine works with a three-motor drive, computer vision, and an array of sensors. It has three modes: free training, drills, and a simulated fight mode.
“It’s time for gyms to up their game, and BotBoxer is the solution,” said Alex Golunov, BotBoxer’s project leader at SkyTechSport, in a statement. “More than a cutting-edge training machine, BotBoxer is a new-era approach to fitness. No other equipment can assess the speed and power of a boxer’s punch at the same time, and it’s the first gym machine to include upper-body cardio, not just power training.”
BotBoxer will ship in September, but is currently available for a free demo at SkyTechSport’s L.A. studio.
SportTechie Takeaway
This is the latest innovation in boxing workouts. Gym-goers can practice boxing against a device that will adjust to their workout level and make users work harder to land a punch. And, of course, then display that data.
There are already a handful of games that try to simulate boxing. Last summer, Appnori released a VR boxing game with Manny Pacquiao as the celebrity referee, and prior to that, boxing VR title Knockout League attracted renowned boxers like Canelo Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. But those are games, and their fitness value is unclear. On the other hand, Hykso and CKO Kickboxing partnered back in 2016 to introduce wearable sensors into kickboxing workouts at the gym franchise, allowing boxers to track various metrics and compete against each other, fostering analytics-driven fitness goals.