Blast Motion, a California company founded in 2007, has been a leader in the Sports Analytics sector ever since the worlds of sports and technology first began to mesh. The company seemed to fall into a niche position with patent documents and marketed solutions aiming to provide players of "swinging" sports like golf, baseball, and softball, unprecedented analytics to aid in bettering their game. Consisting of just an accelerometer that can be paired with any smartphone, its patented software allows users access to a plethora of statistics regarding their swings. However, a recent patent awarded to Blast Motion shows it may be looking for new growth by using its extensive portfolio to enter a new market.
Its most recent patent (U.S. Patent No. 10,786,728), granted on September 29th, 2020, teaches a method of mirroring real-life motion over a virtual environment. While other embodiments were mentioned in the specification, the drawings and background seem to be directed to virtual golf simulators. Most of its previous documents seem to steer away from this possible use of its technology and focus on the use of its accelerometers in real-life golf analytics.
While the market of virtual golf is in no way a novel market with companies such as TruGolf and Blast Motion's rival Trackman offering a plethora of products, there is some novelty in the Blast Motion's approach. Instead of including bulky nets and large screens like those of the existing product, it seems like Blast Motion is more focused on providing a fully virtual experience, requiring only a TV, club, and sensor. This likely will provide a more feasible way of enjoying golf in one's own home to millions of people worldwide as previous products were typically reserved for pros of pro shops that could justify dropping thousands of dollars and dedicating the space to previous simulators. While Blast Motion is yet to have publicly announced a product yet, it can only be a matter of time before they either bring this product to market or license the technology out to help bring the contents of this patent to fruition.
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