Do you enjoy a game of foosball, but struggle to find someone to play with you? If that’s the case, you could be the perfect target audience for the new “FoosFit” training tool, which has just landed on Kickstarter. Providing you with a robot buddy to pit your skills against, FoosFit controls members of the opposing team on the tabletop field so you can hone your craft and practice the kind of shots you’ll one day use to obliterate real human players.
The goal isn’t to do away with human competition altogether, but rather to help competitive players polish their skills in a way that’s simply not usually possible if you’re playing unopposed. The FoosFit can be programmed in a variety of styles of play using an Android (there’s no iOS option unfortunately) mobile app, and the hardware involved promises to retrofit to any existing table without a problem.
“The FoosFit is a patent-pending robotic device that allows an aspiring foosball player to practice shooting and passing on a moving defense,” Rissa Veloso, WeFoos co-founder and former foosball world champion, told Digital Trends. “Each device box slips over the sidewall of the table and controls one foosball rod. Two clamps are attached to the rod: One between players on the inside of the table, and one against the handle on the outside of the table. A string is [then] threaded between each clamp, wrapping multiple times around a bobbin that is attached to a motor controlled through a Bluetooth-enabled PCB board.”
While you have to have a reasonable amount of dedication to be looking at a foosball training tool to begin with, FoosFit’s creators believe their product has a broad potential customer base that could include everyone from average foosball fans to serious tournament players.
We offer our usual warnings about the risks inherent in crowdfunding campaigns, including products that ship late, don’t ship at all, or fail to meet promised expectations. If you do want to get involved, however, you can head over to the project’s Kickstarter page to pledge your cash. A FoosFit device and app will set you back $350, with additional costs if you want custom colors or logos on it. Shipping is set for July 2019.
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