The Pittsburgh Steelers Are Practicing With Football Robots

There’s a new MVP working out with the Pittsburgh Steelers. That would be a Mobile Virtual Player, a remote-controlled dummy that can run drills with football players, allowing them to practice against an opponent that never gets tired.

The MVP was developed by Dartmouth Football head coach Buddy Teevens as a way for players to practice basic skills like tackling, without risking as much injury as they would if they were slamming into their teammates.

The dummies are each individually controlled by remote control from the sidelines.

In addition to the Steelers, the MVP’s are being used in beta testing by an assortment of universities for football and rugby practice, and by the United States’ men’s and women’s rugby Olympic teams. The MVP company is working on an autonomous version of the dummy as well.