Concussions are the most prominent medical concern in football at the high school, college, and professional levels. While the game itself is contact-based and intense, most football related concussions take place during practice, where players often hit their own teammates in realistic football scenarios. Rule changes and advanced concussion protocol are common methods for injury prevention ingame, but one university is completely changing the way in which players practice.

Engineering students at Dartmouth College are revolutionizing how their players improve tackling form. The MVP, or Mobile Virtual Player, is a robotic tackling dummy that is capable of all the same starts, stops, spins, and jukes as an actual player. Standing at almost 6 feet and weighing over 200 pounds, the MVP moves and feels like an actual college athlete, allowing Dartmouth players to practice on a realistic target without the risk of severe head injury.

Elliott Kastner and Quinn Connell are the students responsible for Dartmouth’s innovative new team member, and they argue that this technology will allow players to tackle like they would ingame while avoiding detrimental head trauma. Repetitive concussions can cause long-term damage, especially among football players who inevitably make contact with their helmets on a regular basis.

Dartmouth’s tackling revolution gained volumes of attention when the MVP dummy made an appearance on the “Late Show.” The show’s host, Stephen Colbert, can be seen tackling the dummy himself in full pads after an extensive interview with the Dartmouth coaches. While some have expressed concern that the MVP is not realistic enough for players’ improvement, Colbert’s video, among others, demonstrates how sharply and quickly the machine can cut, turn, and evade its human tacklers. Emphasizing the MVP’s importance, junior Ethan stated, "The biggest priority in the sport of football right now has to be concussion prevention. If this is a step towards that, then it's a positive step for football." Many students share Ethan’ sentiment, and Firoz claimed, “If the dummy can move realistically and help prevent injuries, I don’t see why it shouldn’t be utilized.”

With all the positive feedback, it is clear that Dartmouth must be doing something right, and their football team currently places near the top of the Ivy League Conference. Some even believe that the technology behind the MVP should be used more widely, possibly among NFL teams. When asked about the subject, junior Andrew Hufford said, “It is a very innovative way to make football safer. I could see it being used in the NFL soon.”

Whether professional teams choose to apply robots to practice or not, high schools could look toward taking advantage of the groundbreaking new technology. Brett, varsity wide receiver, was open-minded to the idea, and he stated, “Using the robots could lead to less injuries since it would result in less contact between players.” It is hard to say if high schools like would be willing to test robotic dummies, but we can be certain that the technology could greatly cut down on the risk of concussion among high school, college, and professional athletes everywhere.