Consumer Products
Black Knight’s original Knight Trainer (2008) was the world’s first practical badminton machine. The 2018 Knight Trainer Pro’s mechanical engineering is far more advanced, with unique control features and versatility. Capable of feeding smashes, drives, clears, drops, short and long serves in continuous sequences of up to 250 shots before refilling, the Knight Trainer Pro is fully programmable and more powerful and precise than ever. It challenges players by hitting your programmed target locations and blasts out shuttles as per your instructions.
In 2008, Black Knight introduced the Knight Trainer, which it calls the world’s first practical, portable badminton machine. Rather than refine it, Black Knight started over. After five years of development, it launched the Knight Trainer Pro in 2017, a programmable robotic feeder it describes as 50% more powerful, more accurate and far more versatile than the original.
SurfaceID worked with Black Knight on the design and development of the new machine, turning a complex robotic feeder into a product a coach can roll onto the court on its wheeled stand, set up in a few minutes and run from a tablet. The result gives players at every level a training partner that delivers smashes and precise placements beyond the stamina of any human feeder.
From the included tablet, coaches create and save shots from the machine’s position on the court, then combine them into playlists of 1 to 250 shots, as a drill or as a simulated point. Playlists loop in sequence or at random, and the Knight Trainer Pro automatically changes direction, angle, speed and timing between shots.
The Knight Trainer Pro feeds smashes, drives, clears, drops, net shots, and short and long serves. Its stand adjusts from 137 to 213 cm (54 to 84 in.), and it comes preloaded with drills for singles, doubles and mixed play that coaches can customize or replace with their own.
A carousel holds 250 feather or nylon shuttles, new or used, so a full drill or a long series of points runs without stopping to reload.
Drills can be saved for each player and at different levels of difficulty, then reopened at the next session and adjusted as the player improves. Two or more machines can be combined for even more complex patterns.
Black Knight tested the Knight Trainer Pro with players from beginner to expert and from 8 to 80 years old. Beginners learn faster and have more fun; competitive players sharpen their defence, movement and reflexes with a volume of repetition no rally can match.
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