October 12, 2015
Contributed Art/SMRT Mouth
Former NFL running back Michael Robinson will debut SMRT Mouth at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Motivated by the loss of a good friend and teammate in high school, former Seattle Seahawks running back Michael Robinson set his mind to developing a way for athletes to protect themselves from overdoing it.
Robinson was a rising high school football star in 2000 when his teammate Craig Lobrano collapsed on the field during a practice. Lobrano was rushed to the hospital and by the following morning, he was pronounced dead as a result of heatstroke, BusinessInsider reports.
“As a football player, you don’t tell people when you think you’re tired or dehydrated. You just keep fighting,” Robinson said. “To have something like that happen as a kid in high school, I was scared to go back out on the field. I never went thirsty again.”
Fourteen years and a Super Bowl ring later, Robinson is launching a startup centered on athlete safety. Modeled after the Fitbit, Robinson and co-founder Dana Hawes developed SMRT Mouth, a digital mouthpiece that records biometric data that can be sent to a smartphone or tablet for coaches to monitor an athlete's hydration level.
The mouthguard, aimed at preventing human fatality, will debut at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show and is currently raising money through an Indiegogo campaign. Robinson plans to retail the SMRT Mouth for $159.
With concern rising over the safety of intense contact sports and rigorous conditioning, the goal is to see SMRT Mouth thrive in the youth athletics market. Robinson cites 54 high school athletes who have died of heatstroke in the past 10 years and 9,000 who deal with heat illness on an annual basis. The device could help bridge the discrepancy between the care received by young athletes and professionals, preventing tragedies like those Robinson witnessed firsthand.
