Raw Stadia launches state of the art pitch assessment equipment.
Raw Stadia developed a handheld device capable of testing 5 surface metrics such as the surface’s hardness, shock absorption, surface deformation, energy restitution and spring rate to replicate the vertical impact of the athlete on the surface. The full integration of the RAA measurements into the Raw Stadia platform combined with the visualisation and analysis of the data into actionable insights allows customers to work with a new set of metrics that significantly affect the wellbeing and performance of their players. Providing clubs a solution to frequently test their playing surfaces and its effect on their key assets, enables technical, performance and medical staff to make better holistic decisions. How does the RAA change the current industry standards? “Today only a Clegg Hammer is used by clubs to test the relative hardness of a playing surface to inform players on the playability of the pitch. However, mechanical characteristics are much more complex than the initial impact of a dropped weight. Therefore the RAA uses the complete mechanical profile of the impact test, taking into account visco-elasticity, superficial and profound impact attenuation, to replicate the complete foot strike cycle.” Explains Reece Watson, former Head Grounds Manager of Arsenal FC and Chief Technology Officer of Raw Stadia How does it work? The customer performs the testing protocol as follows. Firstly, go to your starting position on the pitch, secondly select that location you are one the pitch with the user interface and command the device to drop the weight, multiple sensors register the data regarding the 5 metrics and store it locally on the device. Once the device is connected to the Raw Stadia cloud/App, the data can be pushed into the Raw Stadia Platform where the visualisation and the analysis start automatically and are immediately available for review. Why did we develop the device? There are multiple benefits for the users of the Raw Stadia platform, one of them is the quality and consistency of the measurements / data providing new insights into the surface impact on the players, another is the testing time reduction enabling our customers to test a full pitch on playability under 5 minutes.