University of Iowa (UI) graduates have developed what they are calling the first autonomous training device for football receivers.

Known as the Seeker, the robotic quarterback throws footballs to receivers autonomously, allowing players to practice independently. The robot also provides a plethora of beneficial data that allows coaches to track the work ethic of their players, including the time of day the player practiced, the number of repetitions, and how quickly they were completed.

Video footage of the Seeker in action can be seen below:

“We did research to find out if something like this has been done before. The closest machine being used is 45 years old with a patent that expired over 20 years ago,” says Nate Pierotti, one of the robot’s developers.

“There is so much room for improvement. We moved forward knowing there was a large gap in technology and realizing we could fill that gap.”

Pierotti was a third-year engineering student at UI when he told friends Connor Early and Sawyer Theisen about the idea of the Seeker.

Pierotti and Early met in a UI engineering course, and eventually became business partners when Pierotti shared his vision of the Seeker with Early.

“If I hadn’t been at the UI, I wouldn’t have met Nate or been part of this company,” Early says. “There were a lot of projects we worked on in school that helped us communicate and work together.”

After Pierotti and Early started working together, Pierotti reached out to Ben Hansen, assistant director of football operations for the University of Iowa’s football team, who put Pierotti in touch with the rest of the coaching staff to pitch the idea. Pierotti says that the coaches were impressed with the idea of the Seeker, and assured him that if and when the product came to life, the football team would back it up.

“We wouldn’t be where we are today without the UI football staff,” Theisen says. “They’ve been invaluable to our progress. On top of their support, they are some of our biggest proponents.”

Upon Pierotti’s and Early’s graduation in 2016, Monarc, the company behind the Seeker, was solidified. Pierotti became the CEO, while Early became the software engineer. Two Northwestern graduates, Igor Karlicic and Bhargav Maganti, are co-founders and mechanical engineers for the company, while Theisen joined the team as director of sales and marketing a little over a year ago.

With his alma mater already supporting the idea of the Seeker, Pierotti says that Monarc is working to spread the word about the Seeker to other football programs across the country. With this in mind, the Monarc team is demonstrating the Seeker in action to different football programs, as many coaches believe that the robot is “simply too good to be true,” according to Theisen.

Meanwhile, the Iowa football program continues to support Monarc and its Seeker robot, as the program has opened facilities, coaches, and players to help with the testing and development of the robot. Now that the Seeker is complete—production for it finished last fall—Iowa is looking forward to putting it to use and helping spread the word about Monarc, Pierotti says.

“We owe a lot to Iowa football,” Pierotti says. “We have met friends in the program that I think we will have forever. It’s not that they just want their team to be successful, but they want to see us succeed as well.”

Although the company is currently focused on the sport of football, Monarc is hopeful that in the future, it can branch out to create machines for numerous sports, in an effort to not only help individuals grow, but also help coaches truly know their players.