Episode Details

Picture a 1400-pound machine with 14 motors that can become any pitcher—down to their exact spin rate, release point, and wind-up video projection. The Tragic Dark pitching machine has revolutionized baseball training, but it's sparked an asymmetric arms race: batters get unlimited reps against specific pitchers, while those pitchers have no equivalent tool. So what would it take to build the same technology for volleyball serve training? 00:00 - The Machine That Became Shohei: Introducing the Tragic Dark 05:15 - How 14 Motors and 3 Cameras Clone a Perfect Pitcher 10:45 - The Arms Race: Why Batters Won and Pitchers Got Mad 15:30 - Volleyball Serves vs Baseball Pitches: Why the Sport Matters --- Sources & further reading: • ESPN — "Face any pitcher, any time: Inside MLB's new Trajekt tech": https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/40401564/trajekt-arc-new-technology-controversy-mlb-hitters-pitchers-advantage • Digital Trends — "Meet the game-changing pitching robot that can perfectly mimic any human throw": https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/trajekt-arc-pitching-machine/ • Engineering.com — "What Does It Take to Make a Pitching Machine That Replicates a Major League Pitcher?": https://www.engineering.com/what-does-it-take-to-make-a-pitching-machine-that-replicates-a-major-league-pitcher/ • Robotics 24/7 — "Trajekt Sports Goes After the Major Leagues With Its Robotic Baseball Pitching Machine": https://www.robotics247.com/article/trajekt_sports_goes_after_the_major_leagues_with_its_robotic_baseball_pitching_machine • MLB.com — "Miami Marlins use revolutionary Trajekt Arc hitting machine": https://www.mlb.com/news/miami-marlins-use-revolutionary-trajekt-arc-hitting-machine • Athletic Business — "Trajekt Pitching Machine Replicates Any Pitch, Pitcher Delivery": https://www.athleticbusiness.com/operations/media-technology/article/15295740/trajekt-pitching-machine-replicates-any-pitch-pitcher-delivery • TechCrunch — "Analytics, AI and robotics help MLB teams find a perfect pitching machine": https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/27/analytics-ai-and-robotics-help-mlb-teams-get-a-step-closer-to-a-perfect-pitching-machine/ • Globe and Mail — "Trajekt Sports' pitching machine a big hit with Major League Baseball teams": https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-trajekt-sports-pitching-machine-a-big-hit-with-major-league-baseball/ • Rapsodo — "MLB Teams Using PRO 3.0 and Trajekt to Replicate Any MLB Pitcher and Pitch": https://rapsodo.com/blogs/baseball/mlb-teams-using-pro-3-0-and-trajekt-to-replicate-mlb-pitchers • University of Waterloo — "Alumni pitching robot hits the big leagues": https://uwaterloo.ca/systems-design-engineering/news/alumni-pitching-robot-hits-big-leagues • EssentiallySports — "What Is Trajekt Arc? Newest Pitching Technology Triggers a Rift Between MLB Players": https://www.essentiallysports.com/mlb-baseball-news-what-is-trajekt-arc-newest-pitching-technology-triggers-a-rift-between-mlb-players-who-claim-thats-not-fair/ • Anytime Baseball Supply — "The Evolution of Pitching Machines": https://www.anytimebaseballsupply.com/blogs/news/the-evolution-of-pitching-machines • Frontiers in Sports — "An Approach to Quantify the Float Effect of Float Serves": https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sports-and-active-living/articles/10.3389/fspor.2020.559277/full • April Chapple (Substack) — "The Physics of Float Serves (And Why They Make Even Elite Passers Look Foolish)": https://aprilchapple.substack.com/p/the-physics-of-float-serves-and-why • FYFD — "Tokyo 2020: Volleyball Aerodynamics": https://fyfluiddynamics.com/2021/07/tokyo-2020-volleyball-aerodynamics/ • The Sport Journal — "Normative profiles for serve speed for the training of the serve and reception in volleyball": https://thesportjournal.org/article/normative-profiles-for-serve-speed-for-the-training-of-the-serve-and-reception-in-volleyball/ • …and 5 more in the episode research notes This podcast episode was fully generated by AI — research, script, voices, and produ