AMTI’s New Mobile Instrumented Mound: Mobility Without Compromise

AMTI has long been the trusted leader in force measurement for human performance. From laboratories to professional baseball organizations, our force plates provide the precision data athletes and scientists rely on. Now, we’re proud to introduce our newest innovation: our Mobile Instrumented Mound, a fully portable, high-fidelity pitching mound system that delivers the same uncompromising data quality as our permanent installations.

From Permanent to Portable: A True Evolution

AMTI’s existing permanent Instrumented Mound solution has been the gold standard for years. It’s designed for high-performance biomechanics labs, MLB training centers, and top-tier collegiate programs that can dedicate a fixed space for a custom installation. The permanent mound embeds three AMTI force plates (one beneath the pitching rubber and two on the slope) into a concrete or structural base. That permanent foundation ensures absolute rigidity, minimal vibration, and laboratory-grade repeatability.

Our new Mobile Instrumented Mound offers the same core sensing capabilities in a modular, three-piece wooden composite structure. It’s built to be extremely rigid and stable, yet portable enough to move between facilities or training environments. Each section locks together to create a unified, vibration-free surface. No concrete base is needed, and setup or breakdown can be completed in minutes.

While the permanent mound is ideal for dedicated installations, the mobile design opens doors for shared spaces, traveling performance teams, and temporary testing sites. It allows biomechanists, sports scientists, and coaches to gather the same rich 3D force and moment data, anywhere they need it.

Built for Rigidity, Designed for Portability

A common question when it comes to portable force-plate systems is whether mobility leads to data loss. In many competitive systems, the answer is yes: portability often comes at the cost of structural integrity. Even slight flex or vibration can distort ground reaction force (GRF) data, shift the center of pressure (CoP), or reduce accuracy between trials.

The AMTI Mobile Instrumented Mound was engineered specifically to prevent those issues. Its three-piece wooden composite construction is heavy-duty and rigid enough to preserve the same data fidelity found in our permanent installations. The structure is designed to absorb the powerful forces of a pitcher’s stride and release without flexing, shifting, or transmitting unwanted vibration to the plates.

Inside the mound, the same Optima-series force plates used in our fixed systems are embedded: one BMS600900 plates beneath the rubber and two BMS6001200 plates on the slope. These measure full 3D ground reaction forces and moments for both the drive and lead legs, providing complete kinetic profiles of a pitcher’s motion. Each mound comes equipped with an AMTI OPT-SC signal conditioner and the required cabling, all designed for plug-and-play use in mobile or lab settings.

How AMTI’s Mobile Mound Stands Apart

Other portable force-sensing mound solutions tend to emphasize portability first, often at the expense of data quality. Many rely on lighter materials or smaller, fewer force plates, which can compromise accuracy and repeatability.

AMTI’s approach is different and upholds our long-standing belief: that accuracy matters. We began with the precision and stiffness of our permanent installation and engineered portability around it, not the other way around. The result is a portable mound that performs like a fixed one, ensuring data from multiple locations or sessions remains consistent and comparable.

This commitment to structural integrity sets AMTI apart. Whether you’re analyzing elite pitchers in a biomechanics lab or running a temporary training camp in a shared facility, you can trust that the data you collect from the Mobile Instrumented Mound is as clean and reliable as it would be in a permanent setup.

Practical Advantages

The benefits of AMTI’s mobile design extend well beyond its structural performance:

• Fast setup: No concrete base or major renovation required.
• True portability: Easily moved between training environments or shared spaces.
• Consistent data: Identical force plates and mounting rigidity ensure repeatable results.
• Lower cost and downtime: Avoids expensive facility construction or permanent modification.
• Future-proof investment: If your lab or training space moves, your mound comes with you.

The Best of Both Worlds

With the Mobile Instrumented Mound, AMTI has bridged the gap between permanent and portable. It offers researchers, trainers, and athletes the freedom to work anywhere. without compromising the accuracy and quality of the data that make AMTI the benchmark for force measurement.

Want to learn more about how our new Mobile Instrumented Mound can enhance your facility? Contact us via this website or call us at 617-926-6700 or reach out via the contact form on this website.