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Watch Dartmouth's robot tackling dummy in action (Video)

Dartmouth players can take their practice field frustrations out on a robot.

Though we're guessing that the robot can cause some frustration too. The school developed a tackling dummy that can move and change directions. Here's a look at it in action.

 

The Mobile Virtual Player – MVP of course – was designed by Dartmouth students at the behest of coach Buddy Teevens. He had eliminated tackling during practice and wanted his players to still be able to practice with a reduced risk of injuries.

From NPR:

"To my knowledge, no one else does it at the Division I level," Teevens said about his no-tackling protocol, acknowledging that his players were initially skeptical. "It was not received well to be honest with you because [tackling] is sort of fundamental, but I was committed to it."

The MVP may even be more athletic than you are too.

He said the 5-foot-11-inch, 200-plus-pound MVP can weave, cut, stop and start — even "run" a respectable 4.8-second 40-yard-dash.

Does it work? Well, Teevens said missed tackles were cut in half in the first season after the team started using the tackling dummy. And given that football is a copycat sport, if a couple other coaches see value in it, Dartmouth may be working overtime to produce robots for other schools.

The robot is controlled via a remote on the sidelines and the school would love to eventually program robots to be able to run pass patterns.

"It can be used a running back, it can be a target for a QB — attach a net to it or a pouch and it can be a wide receiver. It can be a blocking obstacle or device for downfield blocking for a lineman," the coach said. "There's nothing that it can't do — that was one of the thoughts."

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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!