ADC SwingFore

The animator's approach to a golf swing robot

The ADC SwingFore is a servo-controlled, multi-axis swing robot capable of swing speeds up to 140 MPH with a standard driver. Unlike conventional point-to-point robots, SwingFore is built as an animation device — operators define the key positions of the swing on a timeline, and the robot plays back the motion exactly as designed. The result is a system that replicates any swing style, from amateur to tour professional, with the repeatability needed for R&D, ASTM-style certification, and production-rate durability testing.

Replicate Any Swing

The SwingFore is engineered for the realities of modern equipment R&D and quality control. With a club speed range from a slow practice tempo up to 140 MPH at the head of a 45.5" driver, a single SwingFore replaces a roster of test players — driver, fairway, hybrid, iron, wedge — and reproduces the same swing every time. Operators can dial in straight shots, draws, fades, pulls, hooks, slices, and even shanks for failure-mode testing.

ADC SwingFore arm and wrist assembly

Animation, Not Motion Programming

Traditional industrial robots think in terms of moves, speeds, and distances. The SwingFore doesn't. At its core, the SwingFore is an animation device. The operator describes the swing the same way an animator describes a character's motion — by setting key positions in time. The SwingFore's proprietary spline engine fills in the frames in between using a constrained cubic-spline algorithm that minimizes "jerk" and reproduces the natural, fluid acceleration of a human swing. The operator is the coach, the robot is the athlete, and the motion engine is the choreographer.

This animation-first approach makes the SwingFore uniquely flexible. There is no fixed library of "swing types" to choose from; any swing the user can describe in keyframes — three points or three hundred — can be played back at any speed. Every swing is saved as a portable JSON file, ready to be shared between systems, archived, or replayed years later for back-to-back equipment comparisons.

Engineered for Production

SwingFore was built from the ground up to allow for production-rate use. Loop Mode plays back only the downswing and follow-through, looping over to the next swing without unwinding — maximizing throughput for high-cycle durability testing. When combined with the optional BALL-E automated tee loader and tee table axes, the SwingFore becomes a fully unattended test cell. Optionally, with the proper safety systems installed, the system can be configured to run continuously with no operator intervention.

Industrial-Grade Hardware

Every SwingFore is built on industrial automation hardware trusted by Fortune 500 manufacturers, and features the ADC autocore platform, which runs on laboratory automation systems worldwide to provide advanced capabilities beyond legacy automation systems, enhanced support and serviceability, and complete reliability. The EtherCAT fieldbus provides sub-millisecond communication between controller and drives, yielding perfect repeatability from the robot.

A Web Interface, Not a Workstation

SwingFore's user interface is served as a web application directly from the embedded controller. Any modern browser on any computer on the network is a workstation. No software to install, no licenses to manage, no version-control headaches across multiple operator PCs.

The interface includes a complete sequence editor with three views — Arm, Secondary Axes (wrist, grip, hip), and Review — plus a built-in scope that captures the actual motion of every axis at 1 kHz during the downswing and follow-through. Edit a profile, run it, review the trace, and refine — without ever leaving the browser.

Multi-Axis Flexibility

SwingFore is a true multi-axis platform. The standard configuration includes:

Arm axis — represents the shoulder-to-wrist; infinite range, high-torque servo with 3:1 gearbox
Wrist axis — simulates wrist break; infinite range, high-ratio 9:1 gearbox for precise late release
Grip axis — rotates the club around its shaft for face-angle and open/close-of-face control
Lift axis — vertical body height, 0–191 mm, for accommodating different club lengths and players
Tilt axis — adjusts the lie angle of the club, with a 20° range below the 50° nominal home position

Optional axes for advanced testing:

Active Hip — ±15° hip rotation for full-body swing modeling
Motorized Tee Table (Tee X / Tee Y) — ±285 mm range in both up/down range and toe/heel directions, for automated shot-pattern testing
BALL-E Tee Loader — vacuum-fed ball loader for fully unattended operation

Beyond Golf

The SwingFore platform is built around the swing, not a specific sport. The same hardware and software power ADC's baseball/softball, pickleball, lacrosse, and other striking-implement test systems. A SwingFore configured today is a platform you can re-purpose tomorrow.