Draft:Fastpong Table Tennis Training System

Introduction

Table tennis has been slower to adopt technology than many other sports. One major impediments was that there is little data readily available outside of match results. Fastpong Corp., a sports technology company based in S.Korea launched a product on Table Tennis Day (23rd April) in 2022 designed to take advantage of the benefits of visual stimuli training, real-time feedback and performance tracking.

The initial system was comprised of specialised hardware and software and a mobile app.

Three years later a second product was launched that integrated control of the ball-shooter (aka robot) into the system along with an updated mobile app and updated electronics although the tiles kept the same external format.

This is one of the few technologies that have been introduced into the sport in recent years.

The Fastpong system designed for table tennis training.

Hardware (Tiles & Robot)

The tiles are comprised of 4 connecting boards, which are placed on one side of the table tennis table. Each board has 2 tiles, which light up to present targets for the player and sensors that detect when a ball strikes.

The blue acrylic tiles have bevelled edges, a sensor and each one is supported by nine springs to avoid any dead points. The connectors in the sides of the boards also contain magnets to keep the boards firmly attached to each other during usage. Each tile contains both blue and green LEDs which shine through the acrylic, indicating both the target and on which tile the ball has landed.

A ball sensor is attached to the ball-shooter to detect when each ball is launched to measure statistics, timings and synchronise changing the target to coincide with each new ball. The ball-shooter sends ball after ball to the other end of the table for the player to hit, this is known as multi-ball training.

Software

Full control of the device is via the Fastpong mobile application on android or ios although limited functionality is also possible by pressing the manual buttons on the side of the system.

The second generation of the system launched in April 2025 can connect directly to a ball-shooter and automatically configure them from the mobile application in conjunction with the targets.

The second generation of the mobile application supports a large variety of functions including

• group coaching
• sessions comprising many different exercises
• historical and aggregate statistics
• ranking and rating tests

Benefits

Visual Stimuli Training

Many sports are adopting devices for improving the and tracking the performance of the players. Visual stimuli training has been shown to improve cognitive motor skills.

Performance Tracking

Data from training is gathered on the mobile application. The player is able to track their progress, and analyse their strengths and weaknesses as well as take tests to determine their local and global ranking.

Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's patient using the Fastpong system

There have been several studies regarding the benefits of table tennis training in Parkinson Disease. There is an annual World Parkinson's Table Tennis Championship and the Fastpong system is in use in Parkinson Centres around the world including the United States, Germany, Israel and Japan.

University Research

Students using the Fastpong system at Hanyang University, Korea.

Several Universities in Korea, Germany and Greece have begun using the Fastpong system in their research.

Adoption Worldwide

Two members of the Samsung table tennis team working out using a beta version of the Fastpong system.

The system is already being used by Table Tennis Federations as well as at table tennis clubs and individuals in over 40 countries around the world. Samsung's professional team was an early adopter and used a beta unit in 2021 before it became available to the public.