With just a pair of tripod-mounted iPhones or iPads, the company’s Uplift Capture software can use sophisticated computer vision techniques to track how athletes move, evaluate their performance, and offer guidance to avoid injuries.
And as of Tuesday, the company is offering a new app—simply called Uplift—designed for individual athletes. As of launch, the app allows users to track their jumping performance, something cofounder and CEO Sukemasa Kabayama says matters not just to basketball players and track and field stars but to anyone interested in tracking their overall athletic performance.
“The vertical jump is something that is a measurement tool,” he says. “Power and lower body explosiveness has applicability for a range of dynamic movements and sports and even in fitness, like CrossFit.”
Kabayama, who was previously president of Tesla Motors Japan, says the company grew out of his own experience trying to stay fit and avoid injuries in workouts like CrossFit and has always aimed to offer an app that any athlete could use, not just the elite. “And we consider athletes anyone who has a body,” he says.
Thanks to machine learning algorithms developed over the past couple of years, the app requires only a single phone, making it more accessible to everyday users. And while the company does recommend people use it with a tripod, it can also be held by a coach or workout buddy with a steady hand in a pinch.
Generally, every time people use it, it will calculate metrics like jump height, takeoff velocity, and reactive strength index, allowing people to track their performance over time. Kabayama imagines people will use it through a gym or as part of a sports team, and the company plans to offer plans to make it easy for coaches and schools to monitor and subscribe for large numbers of athletes, but anyone can download the app and use. it for $12.99 per month after a month’s free trial.