AthleticsOne
IEMI's one product for school and club athletics: smart finish posts that are their own finish judge, calling every place and time from one start, and run the heat band and lightning clock all season, in one app
The pair of finish posts that already stands in the extension of the finish line, at the same 80 x 20 mm profile, films the line from both sides at 100 frames a second for places, times and lanes from one start, works out the heat band every minute, runs the lightning clock and holds starts in a storm, and takes acclimatization taps, all from inside the two posts and in one app.
- Who buys it
- High-school athletic directors and athletic trainers, school PE departments and athletics clubs.
- Why it pays
- $2,090 + $299/yr a pair instead of $3,592 + $299/yr for FieldFlag (station, StrikeClock, RollCall, display, GroundCheck), GalaTime, MeetTime and a SplitPole Squad Kit bought separately, plus about $795 for plain finish posts; one district pays about $10,000/yr + $4,400 set-up for a weather service alone (Cumberland County Schools, CNHI News).
- Target price
- $2,090 per pair of smart finish posts with the starter unit + $299/yr (target)
- First-minute wow
- Girls' 100 m heat 3: three runners dip together, and before they stop running the referee's phone shows lane 4 12.84, lane 2 12.97, lane 6 13.05 with the finish strip from both posts; at 17:42 a strike 9 km away flashes both posts and the starter unit will not arm for 30 minutes.
What the research found
And how this design answers it
- Rev O (28 Oct 2026): the posts are their own finish judge. They call places, dead heats, times, finishers and the bell lap alone in school and club play (lanes at the finish assist), light the winner's lane with a tone, sign each result in an ATECC608 and say unsure instead of guessing; a gun mic in the home post times races with no starter unit; the CAD checks 26 camera views
- Rev S (28 Oct 2026): the product is now the pair of finish posts. Same 80 x 20 mm profile as plain winning posts, 1.4 m tall on flat bases, 1 m outside lane 1 and lane 8 in the extension of the finish line
- The fence-post station, sensor arm, globe and wind sensor, sideline digits, MeetBox case, TapGrips, finish SplitPoles, wet-spot pucks, cover tags and rain gauge are gone; their jobs run in the posts or are listed as gaps
- Each post: Raspberry Pi Camera Module 3 looking along the line at 720p100 with a Pi Zero 2 W, a NeoPixel band lamp, 4 x 18650 cells in the base
- Home post: Walter brain (ESP32-S3 + LTE-M), AS3935 lightning sensor, SHT45 behind a vent and a PT1000 on the black top section, PN532 tap reader
- One detachable part: the starter unit (XIAO ESP32-S3, mic, flash diode) docks on the home post's base
- Flagship (27 Oct 2026): one product for school athletics folds SchoolMeet, SplitBlock, SplitPole, FieldSide, FieldFlag and GroundsKit
Use case
Sports day and a stormy practice at a high school track
Meet refereeStarterCoachesAthletic trainer
- 01Trigger: girls' 100 m heat 3 at 11:41; later a hot practice and a storm building to the west
- 02Detect: the starter unit sees the gun flash; both posts film the line; at 16:30 the heat band climbs; at 17:42 the AS3935 hears a strike 9 km away
- 03Act: places, times and lanes reach the referee in seconds; coaches get 'Band up'; both posts flash and the starter unit holds the next start
- 04Log: results as CSV, the heat log and the lightning stop go to the AD's season record
Outcome: Every lane timed from one start without a row of watch holders, and heat and lightning rules followed and logged, from two posts the track already had
How it works
Architecture
- 01
Sense: a finish camera in each post along the line; air, humidity, black top, lightning and taps in the home post; mic and flash in the starter unit
- 02
Decide: each Pi Zero 2 W finds torso crossings in its 100 fps strip; the Walter merges both posts, works out the band and runs the lightning clock
- 03
Send: ESP-NOW between the posts and the starter unit; LTE-M MQTT to the app
- 04
Tell: one app for the meet referee (results, strips), coaches and trainers (band, clock, taps) and the AD (season logs)
Hardware
Real parts, buyable today
Bill of materials: about $648 per pair at qty 1 (shop prices checked 28 Oct 2026).
| Block | Part | Why this part |
|---|---|---|
| Brain | DPTechnics Walter (ESP32-S3 + LTE-M) | One brain and one link in the home post |
| Finish cameras | 2 x Raspberry Pi Camera Module 3 + 2 x Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W | 720p100 along the line from both sides |
| Heat | Sensirion SHT45 (Adafruit 5665) + PT1000 on MAX31865 (Adafruit 3648) | Air, humidity and the black top section |
| Lightning | SparkFun AS3935 (SEN-15441) | Strikes up to about 40 km for the 30-minute clock |
| Taps | Elechouse PN532 NFC V3 | Acclimatization days by wristband |
| Starter unit | Seeed XIAO ESP32-S3 + Adafruit 1713 mic + Vishay BPW34 | Hears the gun and sees the flash |
| Power | 8 x Samsung INR18650-35E + 2 x Adafruit PowerBoost 1000C | About 50 Wh in each base |
| Calls and security | 2 x Adafruit 160 piezo + 2 x Adafruit 4314 ATECC608 + 2 x Omron D2F-01 + Adafruit 1713 gun mic | Tone for each call, signed results, tamper log, start heard at the post |
Mechanical
Printable CAD
3 parts, generated from code and checked as closed solids. Pick a part to inspect it, or download the STL files to print.
Loading the CAD…
Real CAD · drag to rotate · scroll to zoomReal CAD · swipe sideways
Bought hardware fitted inside this part (checked in the CAD: nothing collides with the plastic)
- Home finish post (brain, camera, heat, lightning and tap reader inside)home-post.stl · 6063-T6 aluminium tube 80 x 20 x 2.0, white powder coat, black top; welded steel base
- Away finish post (camera and lamp inside)away-post.stl · 6063-T6 aluminium tube 80 x 20 x 2.0, white powder coat; welded steel base
- Starter unit (docks on the home post)starter-unit.stl · ASA, printed, black
Open risks we are working on
- Times from the gun heard at the post depend on the sound path: wind and echoes add error (± 0.03 s est.); the starter unit stays the exact start
- Crossing time from a 100 fps strip is unproven against a certified photo-finish (test A-T1); target ±0.01 s after interpolation (est.)
- A camera at 1.3 m sees runners overlap in a close finish; the second post on the far side helps but a pack can still hide a torso
- Camera Module 3 is rated 0–50 °C; a white post in full sun is tested (A-T3) before summer meets
- The heat band has no wind sensor and a flat black top instead of a 150 mm globe: it is an estimate until tested against a reference WBGT meter (A-T2)
- The AS3935 and the radios sit behind a polycarbonate window in an aluminium post; range is tested (A-T4)
- Heat and lightning are monitor-and-alert aids; they never say it is safe
Design stage only: nothing on this page is for sale. Specifications and prices are targets.