From Winnipeg prototype to Shark Tank: How local technology found its way onto an international stage
By Kristine Derksen, Director of Marketing & Communications, North Forge™️
When Ball2 appeared on Shark Tank in late September, viewers saw an interactive foam ball
designed to get kids moving, creating and playing.
What they didn’t see was part of the story behind the technology inside it.
During filming, the Ball2 team spoke about Winnipeg-based Hyperion Sensing and the technology behind the product, but that portion didn’t make the final episode.
Years before Ball2 reached the Shark Tank stage, some of its motion-sensing technology
was being developed and prototyped right here in Winnipeg at the North Forge Fabrication Lab (FabLab).
For Winnipeg entrepreneur Gord Parke, the journey is a reminder that innovation rarely
follows a straight line.
Parke is part of Hyperion Sensing, a Winnipeg-based company developing motion sensors for a growing range of applications. Its technology can now be found on golf clubs, in golf balls and on baseball bats, with potential applications ranging from pool cues to pickleball.
One of its latest applications is Ball2, an interactive foam ball that combines motion-sensingn technology with conversational artificial intelligence to encourage active, creative play.
The ball recognizes movements including throws, rolls, spins, kicks and shakes, incorporating those actions into games created with AI.
One community member created an adventure story where different motions move a
character through obstacles. Rolling the ball moves the character through a log, while
throwing it to a certain height gets it over a rock.
But long before that technology made its way into Ball2, Parke was experimenting at North Forge.
He first joined the FabLab around 2015 to access its electronics equipment. Over the years, he has used the facility to create printed circuit boards, troubleshoot electronics and prototype plastic enclosures.
“It’s critical to be able to physically prototype, and you always learn things you wouldn’t
otherwise,” Parke said. “What the FabLab allows is quick iteration.”
While online services can manufacture prototypes elsewhere, every new version comes with production and shipping time. At North Forge, Parke could sometimes test several ideas in a single day.
That speed can change how willing an innovator is to take risks.
“I’ve worked in scenarios where a prototype iteration takes weeks,” Parke said. “In that case, you design very conservatively, simply because each failed idea is very costly.”
At North Forge, the calculation was different.
“It’s relatively cheap to try out some crazy idea,” he said. “And occasionally some of those end up being good.”
For Hyperion Sensing, that included developing a waterproof, removable cap for its golf
sensor. Using North Forge’s benchtop injection moulder, the team experimented with
different materials and designs until they could physically test how each version performed.
Ball2 has its own history of trial and error.
Parke previously worked with the Pennsylvania-based team behind Ball2 on an earlier smart ball. That version needed to be charged, adding cost and complexity.
Parke designed its charging system at North Forge, creating numerous versions of the
circuitry. Years later, Hyperion Sensing developed a motion sensor capable of operating for years without charging, allowing it to be built directly into a foam ball.
The team revisited the idea. The result was Ball2.
Earlier this year, Parke watched people experience the product at Toy Fair in New York. Some returned multiple times to replay their favourite games.
“And these aren’t kids,” Parke said. “They’re industry veterans in a huge room surrounded by every toy imaginable. I thought that was pretty cool.”
Then came Shark Tank.
Because Parke is Canadian, he wasn’t able to appear on the U.S. program himself. His
Pennsylvania-based collaborators represented Ball2.
While viewers didn’t hear the Winnipeg side of the story during the final episode, they
responded to the product.
Parke said publicity began almost immediately and translated into a significant spike in
sales. The YouTube video of the episode has since climbed to nearly nine million views.
What surprised him most was how far that attention travelled.
“Obviously as an American TV show, that is where the majority of the interest has been, but there is a surprising amount from around the world as well, including a considerable amount from Canada,” Parke said.
That includes customers much closer to where the technology began.
“A number of people from Winnipeg have ordered it, and I’m sure they have no idea that a lot of the technology in it was developed right down the street from them,” he said.
For Parke, seeing technology with roots in Winnipeg attract international attention carries particular significance.
“I’m proud that some of the underlying technology was developed here in Winnipeg,” he
said.
The story also demonstrates why access to prototyping infrastructure matters.
Innovators do not always know where an idea will lead. Technologies evolve, products
change and new markets emerge. Something created for one purpose can become the
foundation for something entirely different.
Parke has developed products without access to a facility like North Forge. Prototyping was typically outsourced, adding time and expense and making developers more conservative about what they were willing to try.
There is also something harder to outsource.
“I think the community at the FabLab is great,” Parke said. “There are so many people with diverse knowledge. Someone else might be able to look at a problem with a totally different viewpoint.”
His advice for Manitoba entrepreneurs with a physical product idea is simple.
“Join North Forge and start experimenting,” Parke said. “The good news is the barrier to
entry has never been lower. There are resources to learn and people willing to help.”
Hyperion Sensing is now focused on growing Ball2 while continuing to explore new
applications for its technology.
From golf clubs to baseball bats to an AI-powered foam ball, Parke’s technology has already travelled in directions that would have been difficult to predict when he first began prototyping at North Forge.
Where it goes next may be just as difficult to predict.
And that’s precisely the point.
