Deep-Tech Sports Haptics
Vyanika Innovations is a deep-tech startup pioneering precision haptic sensing for sports. We're eliminating human error from high-stakes calls by embedding cutting-edge sensor matrices directly into playing surfaces.
Move across the court — every ripple simulates a footfall on the sensor matrix.
Recognized by
Logos indicate factual affiliation only, not an endorsement of Vyanika by these organizations.
The Problem
Kabaddi’s hardest calls — a foot on the line, which foot landed first, a body pinned under three others — still rest on human judgment made at full speed. That means disputes, delays, and matches decided by a call nobody can review.
of Pro Kabaddi Season 12 matches were decided by 5 points or fewer. One wrong call can flip a result.
Source: PKL Official, prokabaddi.com, November 2025
In the Press
Covered by the national press.
“an intelligent mat system that detects player contact in real time, identifying touches, tackles and scoring events, and could thus help the referee make accurate decisions.”
Reported in The Hindu
NAIN conclave showcases student innovation from smaller towns
Shilpa Elizabeth, Bengaluru
View the full page
Recognition
850 +
applicants (1 of 11 winners)
Winner — BOLPU 2.0 Innovation Challenge
Bolpu (led by MP Capt. Brijesh Chowta)
Selected as 1 of 11 winning teams from 850+ applicants as the only student-led team in MP Brijesh Chowta's district-wide innovation initiative to position Mangaluru as a leading startup hub.
1
prototype demo rank
1st Prize — NAIN Innovation Conclave 2026
IIIT Bangalore
Ranked 1st in prototype demonstration among K-Tech incubated startups; selected teams showcased at IIIT Bangalore.
130
semi-finalist teams
1st Place — NAIN 2.0 2025
K-Tech NAIN
Ranked 1st among 130 semi-finalist teams at college level; secured ₹5 lakh in funding and selected among 10 teams for K-Tech NAIN incubation.
50
teams nationwide
NSRCEL Pre-Incubation — IIM Bangalore
NSRCEL, IIM Bangalore
Selected among Top 50 teams nationwide for IIM Bangalore's NSRCEL pre-incubation program.
3
Stage — in-person pitch
Semi-Finalist — Elevate Nxt 2026
Startup Karnataka
Advanced to Stage 3 in-person pitching round; presented at the Startup Karnataka office, Bengaluru.
Patent Filed — Patent-applied for the core sensor matrix and detection method.
In the Field
Demonstrations, exhibitions and award ceremonies — photographed as they happened, not staged for this page.
Products
A digital umpire built into the mat.
Sensors in the playing surface detect lobby-line crossings, bonus-line triggers and which foot touched the ground — the first sensor-based officiating system built specifically for Kabaddi. Targeting centimetre-scale boundary resolution with millisecond-level device sync, both currently in validation.
Boundary detection and scoring assistance.
Adapting our sensor matrix technology for Olympic wrestling mats with boundary detection and scoring assistance.
Pressure heatmaps for live broadcast.
Real-time pressure heatmaps and analytics overlay for live sports broadcasting and viewer engagement.
Haptic feedback for immersive Metaverse sports.
VR-ready haptic feedback system for immersive virtual sports experiences with real-world tactile response — translating mat pressure data into full-body raider locomotion in VR.
The Technology
Cameras watch from above, and in a pile-up the contact simply disappears. Our mat senses from below, at the point of contact, so it cannot be blocked, hidden, or lost to a bad angle — and it does not depend on the lighting in the venue.
Sensing Layer
Design targetPiezoresistive matrix
A pressure-sensing grid laminated beneath the playing surface. Exact material is still in validation.
Matrix Density
Frozen spec256 nodes / tile
A 32×8 sensing grid per tile, scanned continuously across the covered surface.
End-to-End Latency
Design target≤50ms (P95)
Design budget from footfall to referee device. Engineering estimate is ≈43ms worst-case — not yet measured on hardware.
Boundary Resolution
Pending validation≤±1.5cm
Target spatial precision across the line. Validation testing is not yet complete.
Stack Thickness
Design target≤10mm
Total sensor and protective stack, designed to preserve surface feel and player experience.
Durability
Frozen specField-replaceable tiles
Wear risk is managed by design — replaceable tiles and pre-match auto-calibration — rather than a claimed cycle count. Long-run cycling validation has not yet run.
Anatomy of a Call
A digital umpire for Kabaddi: lobby-line crossings, bonus-line triggers, and which foot touched the ground — resolved automatically and in real time, at the edge, with no cloud round-trip in the critical path.
Footfall
A raider crosses the line. The sensing matrix registers a pressure change at the contact point.
Local Sensing
The sensor grid around the contact zone is read and filtered on-tile.
Edge Decision
On-mat hardware resolves the call locally — no cloud round-trip required.
Device Sync
The call reaches the referee's device, the ringside tablet, and the broadcast feed together.
≤50ms Target end-to-end latency (P95) — Engineering design budget ≈43ms worst-case, ~8ms margin. Not yet measured on hardware — validation pending.
Roadmap
Phase 1 · In Progress
A working sensor-mat prototype, built and demonstrated in a live Kabaddi setting.
Phase 2 · Coming Soon
The same sensing layer, adapted to other lines and other mats.
Phase 3 · Coming Soon
Expanding our precision technology into new frontiers of sports and entertainment.
Team
Sheshaprasad Bhat
Founder & CEO
Leads product and business strategy — product development, go-to-market and customer engagement.
Samprith C Amin
Founder & CTO
Leads hardware and systems engineering — sensor architecture, embedded systems, AI/ML and the detection algorithms.
Abhishek
Founder & COO
Leads operations and strategic partnerships — field deployment, ecosystem development and execution.
FAQ
That's an active design constraint, not an afterthought — we're targeting a total sensor-and-protective stack of 10mm or less, specifically so surface feel and player experience aren't affected. Still in validation.
Durability is handled by design rather than a wear rating we can't yet back up: tiles are field-replaceable, and the system runs a pre-match auto-calibration. Long-run cycling validation is still in progress.
We're targeting 50ms or less end-to-end, from footfall to referee device, at the 95th percentile. Our current engineering budget lands around 43ms worst-case — a design estimate, not yet a measured result on hardware.
The core difference is architectural: detection happens at the point of contact on the surface itself, so there's no dependency on camera line-of-sight or lighting conditions the way VAR systems have. It matters most in a pile-up — a camera looking down loses the contact under the bodies, while the mat is underneath it and still registers which foot is where. We're not publishing a cost comparison until we have real deployment numbers to back one up.