Core Impact Inc., based in Elk Grove, is developing wearable technology to help athletes, teams and schools better understand what is happening with a player’s muscles during competition.
The technology isn’t oriented for health or fitness. Rather, it's a sports performance platform designed to isolate how effectively specific muscle groups are working, said CEO and founder Samuel Taylor.
“It allows them to comprehend what is going on in their body to give them competitive advantage,” Taylor said.
Core Impact is part of the current cohort of companies at the Growth Factory business incubator in Rocklin.
Taylor and others at the five-person startup are former professional or collegiate athletes. Taylor played college baseball at the University of San Francisco, where he got a degree in kinesiology, and then played in the minor leagues for the Los Angeles Angels and Cincinnati Reds organizations. Kinesiology is the scientific study of body movement.
When Taylor was playing baseball professionally and had poor at-bats, his response was going to the batting cage and swinging at 1,000 pitches.
“I didn’t need repetition," he said. "I needed to know what I was doing wrong."
Core Impact has developed a platform that monitors specific muscle groups through sensors embedded in garments that measure muscle activity, muscle fatigue and muscle acceleration, along with heart rate and pulse.
That data shows which muscle groups are working at 90% efficiency versus 70% efficiency, and that provides actionable information for exercises to correct problems, Taylor said.
“One of the problems we are solving is the overwhelming amount of data and information that athletes are exposed to,” he said. “They get so much information, they ignore it, and instead they overtrain.”
Overtraining, in turn, can lead to injury.
Core Impact’s platform includes a wearable mini-computer, cotton-blend garments with embedded electromyography muscle sensors and an app to collect the data via Bluetooth to smartphone and data centers. Electromyography sensors measure electrical signals generated by muscles when they move.
“Right after an at-bat, you can sit in the dugout and see what you did with every swing,” Taylor said. “You can see what you are using correctly and what you are not.”
Rather than overwhelming with thousands of numbers, Core Impact's software shows coaches or athletes a graphic representation of efficient muscle response.
The devices are set up for sports-specific movements. Core Impact is starting with baseball, softball and golf, but the technology could be used for many sports, Taylor said.
The company is awaiting signed letters of intent from California State University Sacramento and the New York Yankees organization to use its technology starting in January for beta testing, Taylor said.
Core Impact plans to offer its equipment for $665 per player per year. The company has potential to scale quickly, because baseball teams have 26 players and collegiate golf teams have 10 players, Taylor said. He’d like to have 800 units in the field in the next 10 months.
Core Impact so far is largely funded by founders, friends and family, and Taylor is now pitching a seed round of venture capital. The company hasn't generated revenue yet.
