Onyx Motion Partners with NBA Athlete, Introduces Basketball Coaching App for Smartwatches

Onyx Motion, a developer of sports technology, today launched its crowdfunding campaign for Swish, the world’s first digital basketball coaching app for smartwatches.

This new sports-tech uses motion sensors to analyze an athlete’s technique and provide tips. With a goal to bring high caliber coaching to players at all levels in training, Onyx Motion has partnered with NBA Athlete, Ben Gordon, as Swish’s director of innovation.

“The Swish technology is bringing users closer to their favorite basketball player by giving them the opportunity to learn from them,” said Gordon.

Founded by Marissa Wu, University of Toronto engineering student, Swish focuses on building a player’s skills in real-time with data, tips and inspiration provided by pro athletes. The proprietary algorithm inferences the user’s entire body, including jump timing, specific angles, and consistency. 

“Here at Onyx Motion, we are building the next generation of AI for sports coaching,” said Wu. “Our goal was to create a health and fitness device that would give personal recommendations, not just churn out numbers.”

The Swish app is the first step of Onyx Motion’s vision to provide kinesthetic learning across sports and eventually other industries. Onyx Motion’s goal is to raise $10,000 on Indiegogo by August 8 to fund the launch of an Android Wear app, in addition to developing for the Apple Watch, and capabilities for other sports.

Founded in August 2014, Onyx Motion has received seed funding from the University of Toronto Early Stage Technology (UTEST) program, theNext36 and MaRS Innovation.