
While many fighters train with a punching bag, it’s not really a fair fight – after all, the bag can’t punch back. Stryk’s new RXT-1 training robot, however, does exactly that.
The device was invented by mixed martial arts fighter Brent Verdialez, after a wrist injury caused him to seek out a lower-impact alternative to sparring with another person.
His creation mounts on a wall, has 12 inches (30.5 cm) of height adjustability once installed, and is plugged into an electrical outlet. It has four foam-padded arms that swing in at the user, at speeds of up to 40 mph (64 km/h). The RXT-1 also features a padded spring-loaded head target on which the user tries to land punches – a torso target is available as an optional extra.