Jack Marucci is the director of sports training at Louisiana State University in the United States. The American football team usually trains at this university. During the training process, on average, one player suffers from concussion every month due to collision. On the contrary, during the league period from September to January, only 2 to 3 players suffer from concussion in a quarter.

Generally speaking, in football games, forwards are the most likely to be hit and get concussions, and Jack Marucci began to study how to reduce the occurrence of this situation through technological means. First, he thought of placing sensors in helmets or game uniforms, but it never worked very well. Until one day, he accidentally discovered the i1 Biometrics smart wireless mouthguard with biometric technology, which can solve Marucci's troubles just right. This product embeds sensors into the most common braces in football games, which can more accurately provide the force of the head being hit.

"The teeth are part of your head," said Jesse Harper, CEO of i1 Biometrics. "It's like putting a smartphone in your mouth. Accelerometers, gyroscopes and microprocessors, all of which can be done through the mouthguard. So because it wraps around your teeth and the teeth are connected to the bones of the head, it can accurately measure the forces being applied."

Marucci added: "This is like a perfect companion, exactly what we were looking for, more data can be synchronized to the computer to check the safety of the head. It's basically an extra pair of glasses for games and training."

All the collected data can be sent to the coach or team doctor's laptop or smartphone. The i1 Biometrics mouthguard has no switch and starts working automatically as long as it is placed in the mouth. It is powered by AA batteries, and a pair of batteries can last a whole season.

In addition, the i1 Biometrics mouthguard uses elastic polymer technology materials from ExxonMobil, so it is very durable. Although the price of $199 (about RMB 1,235) is not cheap, it is not a big expense for professional teams and athletes.

Harper said that this year, four high school football teams will be equipped with this product, and it is not limited to football. Different versions will also be launched for adults and teenagers.

More importantly, although this i1 Biometrics mouthguard will not prevent concussions, it can detect the potential probability of concussions in athletes after intense confrontations such as football and rugby, and test whether the athletes are conscious.

"Although we launched i1 Biometrics for profit, I also care about the health of athletes." Harper said. "We want athletes to complete the game as safely as possible, and coaches can understand the intensity of the game through this work. The pace of the NFL league is getting more and more intense, and we know what to do. Although many helmets can also achieve such functions, how can they be more accurate than tools that directly contact teeth?"

At present, i1 Biometrics has become an important teaching tool for athletes in Louisiana University training, and even many unexpected additional functions have emerged.

For example, i1 Biometrics can bring an indirect benefit, that is, it can collect the running routes of athletes in competition training, help athletes summarize the most suitable routes, judge potential dangers, and change tactics in time. "Currently, i1 Biometrics has helped some of us correct a lot of tactical errors," said Marucci.

In fact, Marucci has obtained a lot of data through i1 Biometrics and has significantly reduced the damage caused by concussions in athletes during training. In the future, Marucci believes that i1 Biometrics will continue to be popularized in universities in other states.