InsideCoach: a smart soccer ball with its own smartphone app to help you up your game

We’re increasingly entering an era of smart things--from Wifi-controlled light fixtures to vacuum cleaners with vision systems, no manufacturers can afford to exclude sensors and wireless connectivity in products these days.

But never mind appliances; these smarts are making their way into sports in ways that promise to change your game forever. Take for example a company called InsideCoach, which is creating a commercial soccer ball that is packed with motion detectors and sensors. The ball pairs with a smartphone app that is built to serve a singular purpose: to help you hone your game.

The ball collects a range of data when it is in motion including spin, trajectory as well as strike force, as well as how many times the ball is touched or passed. The paired app is also able to define a player’s skill levels, including helping evolve her skills with specific game challenges. The ball exchanges information with the app via WiFi that gives it a range of several hundred feet, and the ball’s in-built battery--that lasts four hours on a single charge--is charged wirelessly.

Based on an open software architecture, the company also aims to invite third-party developers to jump on board and create their own apps that work with this smart ball.

The soccer ball’s production is still a work in progress--the creators are currently seeking to raise $25,000 capital in on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter. The company has as yet raised over $16,000 with 52 days to go.

Watch it in action here: