It all began when three people bonded over their love of rowing at Brock’s Leo LeBlanc Rowing Centre.

Electrical Engineer Adam Love had joined the centre’s Adult Community Rowing Program as a recreational rower. Around the same time, he was exploring an idea to improve methods used by athletes and their coaches to measure their performance on the water.

Working in his basement, Love created a device displaying performance data that tracks, analyzes and optimizes rowing performance. But he needed feedback from those who row competitively.

So, he turned to Adult Community Rowing Program coaches Jenna Osborne (BKin ’20, MSc ’24), an Applied Health Sciences PhD student, and Ian Doctor (BScKin ‘25), a Kinesiology master’s student who was involved in exoskeleton research conducted by Associate Professor of Kinesiology Shawn Beaudette.

Doctor and Osborne, who share a passion for competitive rowing, were intrigued, and Love brought them on board in his newly formed company, Rowing Precision.

“Working with experienced athletes and coaches is critical to ensuring that we deliver a product that has been designed and built by the people who are going to use them,” says Love, Rowing Precision Founder and CEO. “Ian is helping a lot with the technical side of things and Jenna is working on product testing and design.”

The trio sought additional support to further refine, expand and market Rowing Precision’s advanced sport performance analysis system for the rowing community.

They found it at the Brock-Niagara Validation, Prototyping and Manufacturing Institute’s (VPMI) Idea Factory, a space where local startups prototype their innovations as they tap into Brock’s analytical testing services and research and entrepreneurial resources.

“Being located within the Idea Factory at Brock’s VPMI gives us direct access to top-tier academic resources, faculty expertise and the University’s advanced testing and prototyping capabilities,” says Love. “This environment supports the entire innovation pipeline — from research through to product refinement — and helps accelerate our development timeline.”

Love, Doctor and Osborne have set up their lab within the VPMI, where they continue assembling, testing and refining their product.

Osborne tests the devices out on four boats used by a high school crew she coaches and passes her feedback along to Love and Doctor.

In turn, Doctor uses Osborne’s feedback to improve the devise.

“My undergrad thesis investigated movement coordination between athletes in the same boat to analyze performance, which is research I did at Brock’s Spine Biomechanics and Neuromuscular Control Laboratory,” says Doctor. “My work at Rowing Precision brings the data science aspects from the university lab into an industry setting.”

Osborne says she’s excited she can expand her love of rowing as well as get ideas for the future.

“I’m grateful for this opportunity,” she says. “Having my hand in business makes me realize there are other career options out there beyond academia.”

VPMI Business Director Ivano Labricciosa says Rowing Precision is a “perfect fit” for the Idea Factory’s mission of supporting breakthrough innovation that blends local business support, breakthrough development and prototyping, innovation in science, and industry collaboration.

“Rowing Precision’s presence at the Idea Factory highlights exactly what we envisioned for this space — a place where visionary entrepreneurs can engage with Brock’s research ecosystem and take advantage of our advanced lab capabilities,” says Labricciosa. “We’re proud to support our local companies that are growing and pushing the limits of human performance through technology.”