LED Rabbit tech enhances training for track athletes
May 16, 2017 | Meghan LeVota
A new Lenexa-based tech firm aims to make training for track and field athletes more precise.
Founded in 2015, LED Rabbit is an electronic pacing system that can attach to or overlay any track. The product uses LED lighting to move a marker around a track, offering runners an indicator of what their pace needs to be.
“Coaches typically go through lot of pain developing specific work outs and they use a stopwatch to make sure athletes are on the correct pace,” said Barry Vonada, founder of LED Rabbit. “With LED Rabbit, a coach could be in his office before practice starts, program a complete workout within our mobile application, and then launch the workout. The system takes care of the rest.”
With expertise in LED lighting, sales and engineering, Vonada said the idea came after talks with his daughter, who is a collegiate track and field athlete.
“One of her coaches came to her and was telling her about all the problems they have with training,” Vonada said. “I thought to would be nice to add some LED technology. Any technology in general would be better than a stopwatch and yelling ‘start and stop.’”
After previously trying to secure a patent, Vonada discovered that a similar technology was already being used by Italy-based Indico Technologies. On Friday, LED Rabbit announced that it gained exclusive license to use the technology.
Vonada said that he is relieved to have reached an agreement with Indico Technologies.
“By securing the patent and technology rights, we can now focus our energy on launching The LED Rabbit into the North American market,” Vonada said. “The expertise that our two companies share in LED Lighting Systems coupled with our passion for sports will spawn many new developments in the future.”
The tech will hit the market this fall, targeting high school and collegiate teams. Vonada said he’s focused on securing funding to hire a team and manufacturing the product.
He is confident that, with the help of the Kansas City community, LED Rabbit has a bright future.
“I’ve started to get in a lot of exciting conversations and getting to know people in Kansas City’s startup community,” Vonada said. “It has been really cool for me because I’ve lived in the area forever and I love that the community is really embracing tech startups.”
Watch a video of the LED Rabbit in action below.
2017 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Can KC build the next billion-dollar company? ‘We have the internet here too’
Ambitious startups need to believe they can become Kansas City’s next billion-dollar company, said John Thomson, urging confidence — and the ability to roll with the punches — in the face of risk. “Accomplished entrepreneurs who I’ve met … they just did it. Of course it was risky, and it might fail, but they went and…
KC’s MixTape Monkey curates 11 million users through hip hop streaming service
Taking a long sigh, an underground mixtape mogul logs off from a live Q&A session with customers. Inside his two-bedroom downtown Kansas City apartment, Mark Serrano stares out a window overlooking the corner of 12th and Walnut streets. “Online I have this huge community, itʼs overwhelming,” said Serrano, referencing his staggering global user base of…
New home for Back2KC: Kansas City Startup Foundation expands talent pipeline efforts
It’s the Kansas City Startup Foundation’s turn to drive the tour bus, said Darcy Howe, announcing Monday the transfer of the Back2KC talent pipeline initiative to KCSF, the nonprofit ecosystem-building organization that also powers Startland News. The move means KCSF will take ownership of the program for its Oct. 3-4 return, adding a full-time team…
UMKC-powered tech could help visually-impaired Kansas Citians see via artificial intelligence
Gharib Gharibi is driven to succeed by a desire to pay it forward, he said, riding a high from his startup’s first-place, $20,000 win at UMKC’s Regnier Institute Venture Creation Challenge. “They helped us transform our technology from the computer lab to the real world,” Gharibi, founder of DeepLens and a UMKC PhD student, said…