Carnegie Mellon University(opens in new window)’s Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship(opens in new window) and the AI Strike Team today unveiled the finalists for the Forge to Field AI Pitch Competition(opens in new window), a Draft Week event dedicated to identifying the biggest breakthroughs at the intersection of sport and artificial intelligence.
Six finalists were chosen from nearly 100 qualified applicants located in more than 10 tech hubs across the country. On April 22, all six finalists will meet in Pittsburgh — a premier ecosystem for physical AI — to vie for a part of a $1.75 million prize pool, including up to $1 million in AWS cloud credits.
2026 Forge to Field AI Pitch Competition Finalists:
- Flowstate(opens in new window) — AI agents that analyze live and file-based video to automate workflows across sports content, sponsorship, media operations, and fan-facing distribution. Mission: become the intelligence layer for video.
- MyoVerse(opens in new window) — A wearable neuromuscular sensing and AI analytics platform that transforms muscle activity into objective, real-time biomarkers for performance, rehabilitation and clinical decision-making.
- Peachy Day(opens in new window) — A migraine prevention app with predictive health tracking, coaching and neurologist-led care that can help to reduce pain, fast-track speed to care by years and fundamentally lower healthcare cost.
- Perforated AI(opens in new window) — Bringing a neuroscience breakthrough into live sports, powering faster, leaner, and more accurate AI that turns real-time player data into immediate injury risk signals, enabling intervention before small issues become season-ending injuries.
- ServeSense — Hardware-software products for racket sport athletes, including a sensor that captures precise swing mechanics and feeds an AI coaching engine that delivers individualized feedback.
- Sensi Fit(opens in new window) — An all-in-one sports performance system with cutting-edge sensors that track game-like drills and provide coaches, athletes and parents with the most comprehensive and accurate athlete data to elevate their competitive edge.
“What inspires us most is seeing startup founders using generative AI in high-stakes environments where performance matters. They are moving beyond hype and into production,” said Deap Ubhi, Director and Global Head of Technology for Startups at AWS. “If you think of some of the foundational pillars of what makes AWS the right place to build for so many startups — performance, resilience, availability — it’s very similar to what is expected to perform at peak levels in any sport. AWS gives founders the tools and technologies to build systems that are fast, reliable, and production-grade from day one so they can operate at game speed.”
Each of the startups will pitch live to a distinguished panel of judges:
- Mark Cuban, Entrepreneur and Investor
- Ed Stack, Executive Chairman and Chief Merchant, DICK’S Sporting Goods; Foot Locker
- Will Allen, Founding Partner, Magarac and former Pittsburgh Steeler
- Deap Ubhi, Director and Global Head of Technology for Startups, AWS
- Troy Demmer, Co-Founder and President, Gecko Robotics and Co-Founder and General Partner, First Order Fund
- Jeanne Cunicelli, President, UPMC Enterprises; Executive Vice President, UPMC
“The strength of response to this competition reflects Carnegie Mellon’s global reputation in AI and robotics, combined with the Swartz Center’s leadership in entrepreneurship,” said Meredith Meyer Grelli(opens in new window), managing director and interim executive director of the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship. “Working in close collaboration with the AI Strike Team, we’ve been able to bring together an exceptional group of companies from across the country and create a platform that connects them with leading investors, operators and partners at a pivotal moment for AI.”
The competition is part of the Powering the Future of Sport: A Draft Week Showcase(opens in new window) — an invitation-only event presented by Carnegie Mellon University and the AI Strike Team in partnership with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh Steelers legend Jerome Bettis will kick off the event, which will convene global investors, founders, CEOs, civic leaders and sports industry leaders during NFL Draft Week.
Where AI Meets the Field
The Forge to Field AI Pitch Competition anchors the broader Showcase and highlights AI companies and technologies powering the future of sport and Pittsburgh’s role as a leader in the AI innovation economy. From robotics to sports analytics, Carnegie Mellon researchers and founders are developing AI systems that perceive, adapt and operate in fast-moving, real-time environments.
For example, through a partnership with the NFL, analysis powered by Carnegie Mellon researchers will be integrated into NFL IQ’s AI chat tool(opens in new window) in time for the Draft. Ron Yurko(opens in new window), Carnegie Mellon Sports Analytics Center(opens in new window) (CMSAC) director and assistant teaching professor in the Department of Statistics & Data Science, and Ph.D. student Quang Nguyen(opens in new window) are leading this unique effort. The tool appears when visitors enter the NFL IQ site and invites users to ask questions about “team needs, draft prospects, free agency, Combine results, team stats, Next Gen Stats scores and more.”
Sports have emerged as a powerful proving ground for these technologies. The demands of professional competition — split-second decision-making, advanced computer vision, sensing and data systems — mirror the challenges shaping the next generation of robotics, autonomy and intelligent infrastructure. At the same time, operating modern sports franchises resembles managing miniature cities, with complex logistics, supply chains, fan engagement ecosystems, merchandising operations and even life sciences and performance innovation — each presenting opportunities for AI to drive efficiency, insight and new value creation.
The startups selected as finalists embody this convergence, bringing AI out of the lab and into environments where performance, accuracy and efficiency matter most.
Pittsburgh: Where the Next AI Economy Is Taking Shape
Set within Carnegie Mellon University’s newly opened Robotics Innovation Center(opens in new window) at Hazelwood Green, the Showcase unfolds as Pittsburgh continues to gain momentum as a global hub for physical AI, entrepreneurship and sports technology.
Anchored by Carnegie Mellon’s leadership in AI and robotics and catalyzed by the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship and AI Strike Team, the region functions as a living lab where technologies are developed and deployed across real-world environments. Through the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship and its broader ecosystem, Carnegie Mellon University brings together founders, investors and corporate partners to accelerate the development and deployment of next-generation technologies. The AI Strike Team plays a central role in advancing this vision — helping position Pittsburgh as an AI City.
With three major professional sports teams providing continuous opportunities for innovation — and a combination of strong investment momentum, energy capacity and cost advantages — Pittsburgh stands out as a place where intelligent systems are not just built, but tested and scaled.
Together, Carnegie Mellon University and the AI Strike Team are convening the builders and backers driving a transformative shift in how sport is trained, played and experienced.
“Pittsburgh has all the ingredients to lead in this next era of AI — from world-class research to real-world deployment environments,” said Joanna Doven, executive director of the AI Strike Team. “Through this event and the work of the AI Strike Team, we’re accelerating Pittsburgh’s position as an AI City — bringing together the people and platforms needed to build, test and scale these technologies.”
Sponsors Powering the Future of Sport
The organizations supporting Powering the Future of Sport: A Draft Week Showcase are not just sponsors — they are builders, investors and operators helping shape where the industry goes next. Their presence extends beyond visibility, contributing to the conversations, the energy in the room and the ideas that continue long after Draft Week.
Support for the Forge to Field AI Pitch Competition includes:
- Hall of Fame Sponsor: AWS Startups
- Pro Bowl Sponsors: Magarac Venture Partners; First Order Fund, UPMC
Powering the Future of Sport Event Sponsors include:
- Field Goal Sponsors: Department of Community & Economic Development / Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; Innovation Works
- First Down Sponsors: VisitPITTSBURGH; Bakery Square; Tishman Speyer, UPMC
- Kickoff Sponsor: Ernst & Young
