CES 2026 brought together some of the most interesting innovations across consumer technology, robotics, fitness, and smart devices. Among the products recognized by The Gadgeteer in its Best in Show roundup was the Pongbot Pace S Pro, selected in the Sports & Fitness category for its approach to more responsive and realistic tennis training.
Pongbot Pace S Pro
Recognized by The Gadgeteer as one of its 25 Best in Show products at CES 2026, Pace S Pro stood out for combining player tracking, adaptive training, and match-oriented drills in a tennis ball machine.
Moving Beyond Traditional Ball Machine Training
Traditional tennis ball machines are built around repetition. They can deliver balls at consistent intervals, speeds, and locations, making them useful for practicing individual strokes and patterns. But that same consistency can make it difficult to recreate the changing rhythm and movement demands of an actual rally.
According to The Gadgeteer's CES coverage, Pace S Pro takes a different approach by incorporating player tracking into the training process. Instead of simply launching the next ball on a fixed schedule, the system can respond to the player's position on court.
Ultra Wideband Player Tracking
One of the technologies highlighted by The Gadgeteer is Pace S Pro's Ultra Wideband player-tracking system. The publication reports that the system can track a player's position with accuracy within 10 centimeters and a sampling rate of 100 Hz.
Real-Time Position Tracking
Pace S Pro uses Ultra Wideband technology to monitor where the player is on the court, allowing training sessions to respond to movement rather than relying only on a predetermined sequence.
100 Hz Sampling
The Gadgeteer highlighted the system's 100 Hz sampling rate, designed to provide rapid positional updates during training.
Recovery Trigger
Recovery Trigger uses player-position information to determine when the player has returned to a ready position before releasing the next ball.
More Responsive Drills
Rather than forcing every feed to arrive at a fixed interval, the training sequence can account for the player's recovery and movement between shots.
Training That Responds to the Player
The Gadgeteer's coverage emphasized the difference between simply repeating a ball pattern and creating a training experience that responds to the player. With Recovery Trigger, Pace S Pro can wait for the player to recover before delivering the next ball.
This creates a different training rhythm: players are encouraged to move, recover, and prepare for the next shot rather than simply hitting the next ball as soon as it arrives.
The result is a training system designed to incorporate footwork, positioning, and recovery alongside stroke repetition.
Speed, Spin, and a Large Drill Library
Player tracking is only one part of the Pace S Pro system. The Gadgeteer also highlighted its combination of speed, spin, and training-program options.
The 564 pre-programmed patterns cover a wide range of NTRP levels, giving players different training options as their skills develop. Pace S Pro also supports AI Match Training, which The Gadgeteer describes as using logic trained on more than 100,000 real matches to vary serves and ball placement.
From Repetition to More Realistic Practice
The broader idea behind Pace S Pro is to make solo tennis training feel less static. Instead of treating every shot as an isolated repetition, the system combines ball delivery with player movement and recovery.
For players who regularly practice alone, this can create a more structured training environment where positioning and movement become part of the exercise rather than something left entirely to the player to manage.
“The Pace S Pro does not dictate tempo. You do. The machine watches, waits, and responds.”
Why Pace S Pro Stood Out at CES 2026
The Gadgeteer included 25 products in its CES 2026 Best in Show roundup, spanning categories such as display technology, computing, outdoor robotics, wearables, gaming, home technology, and sports & fitness. Pace S Pro was the publication's featured product in the Sports & Fitness category.
Its inclusion reflects the growing intersection of robotics, AI, and sports training. Rather than simply automating ball delivery, Pace S Pro is designed around the player's movement and training response, bringing more adaptive behavior into a familiar category of sports equipment.
Train With More Purpose
Explore Pongbot Pace S Pro and discover a more adaptive approach to tennis training, from player tracking and Recovery Trigger to advanced drills and match-oriented practice.
Explore Pace S ProArticle from The Gadgeteer: The Gadgeteer’s Best in Show at CES 2026: 25 products that earned our trophies this year
Images in this article are from The Gadgeteer’s CES 2026 coverage.
