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Open source climb/train technology

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ianalexdunne 02 Feb 2016

Hey hey,

I'm currently working on some training tech projects and I'm looking for other climbers who are interested in collaborating.

I have no financial interest in this, I'd like to make fun simple systems that could be programmed with an app, think touch pads for feet and holds, timers, light changes, in very cheap uncomplicated systems that people can modify and replicate in their own homes or gyms to make games or routines with feedback. I love the projector systems and all the future tech but its really pricey and some requires mapping to every installation.

I would love to bounce ideas off people with imaginations, training craft, raspberry or arduino/ programming experience or just anyone with a good idea for touch responsive games to create with.

I know these are not new ideas, I just want them to be available and fun, now.

Would have to be in the interest of sharing all plans open source, I have money for prototypes and all materials needed!

I'm based in North London, just moved to the UK recently.

Nice one
Ian
Post edited at 11:12
 stp 02 Feb 2016
In reply to ianalexdunne:

Sounds good Ian and all the better for being open source.

My suggestion is based on the old days of climbing walls when climbers used to make up their own problems rather than just following the coloured holds of the routesetters.

1. Using a smartphone or tablet take a photo of a section of an indoor wall clearly showing all available holds.
2. Touch each hold on the image to select all the holds included on a new problem or route.
3. Save and give the problem a name, grade and creator's details
4. Upload to whereever to make available to all.

This could greatly increase the number of routes or blocs available at an indoor wall.
 Sutok 02 Feb 2016
In reply to stp:

Hey Ian. I'm a developer by trade and mixing climbing and tech really fascinates me too.

Youd be surprised how cheap projectors are. Just needs to be high lumens and a relatively low resolution.

Watching that gameified climbing video on wired got me thinking about how you could improve on the tech as it seemed very manual. Eg someone has to click every time a climber hits a hold.

I think a much better solution would be motion tracking with a web cam. This also has the advantage of being able to interpret colour so I think in theory it could identify the climbs on a wall automatically and you could programmatically build games around what's available as well as timing speed runs etc. Would wind up being a lot more plug and play and could in theory be left permanently installed and automatically adapt to new route setting.

Additionally a crazy idea which might be a bit unrealistic... a wall with neutral coloured holds that are refractive could in theory be lit by a projector to create problems and even modify them in real time, e.g your climbing fast so the route gets progressively harder or your faffing about so it gets easier etc.

Also, reading stp's suggestion using a Webcam and motion tracking in theory you could set it to learn and tap each hold in sequence and teach it new routes which could be saved and shared. Think numbers projected onto each hold or the lit holds as above.

I actually own a projector and I've found a JS library that does motion tracking so I'm going to have a tinker with some of the above when I have a spare evening, more than happy to share the results or get any feedback

Cheers

Tom
 Greasy Prusiks 02 Feb 2016
In reply to ianalexdunne:

Hi Ian,
That's some interesting ideas you've got there, thanks for sharing. I'll have a think about some ideas and post again if I have anything to share. I'm always keen on this sort of project, if you do want someone to bounce ideas of I'd be happy to talk.
ianalexdunne 05 Feb 2016
In reply to stp:

That's a really great idea, requires no building in of new equipment. Its playing the same game but allowing everyone who goes to the gym to be involved.

Would only require minimal communication and an zone setup or some identifier to find the same spot in the gym.

I think the moon wall community operates on a similar principle (I might be wrong), setting up the same way and sharing routes with each other.
This idea is definitely worth exploring, users of some gyms that don't update routes regularly could really benefit from this system.

Could even have one wall that's saturated with holds and encourage only this style of setting.

ianalexdunne 05 Feb 2016
In reply to Sutok:

That's really interesting stuff Tom, I really like the idea of an intelligent system that's installed and left and whatever new routes are installed and the program can read, adapt to and create new routes automatically.

There was a good video of a guy at Brooklyn boulders doing some basic mapping stuff with very simple programs put up yesterday.

I'd be interested to hear what you're thinking for a program or game, how do you make it fun and enhancing vs distracting and gimmicky



KristiBowman 05 Feb 2016
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 climber david 05 Feb 2016
In reply to ianalexdunne:

Somebody on here was working on a university project along similar lines not all that long ago. might be worth searching and trying to find out who that was.

One idea I think would be good (although I have no technical knowledge at all!) would be to have the app which selects various holds as described above but integrate it in to the holds and make holds that light up when the route they are on is selected. Could be very useful if a gym doesnt reset the routes very often as its up to the climbers to set the routes and save them. once a climber has made a route it can be saved and other climbers can load it on to the wall. Sort of similar to the refractive hold idea the holds light themselves instead of a projector lighting them
 stp 05 Feb 2016
In reply to ianalexdunne:

Glad you like it. Thanks.

The latest Moon board now has an LED for every hold. You can simply punch in the number of a problem and LEDs will light up highlighting the problem.
 natehd9 05 Feb 2016
In reply to ianalexdunne:

Could a project like this also be used to make life easier for colourblind climbers?

I personally am just getting into the sport, and whilst the more developed walls in SE London have nice clean holds that are (relatively) easy to distinguish, there are other walls that are SERIOUSLY difficult to distinguish the routes.

It's a bit frustrating if I'm bouldering with the other half and halfway through her problem I'm asking whether I'm reaching for one of my holds or one from another route!
 Mark Edwards 06 Feb 2016
In reply to ianalexdunne:

I’m in, if I can help. Can knock together a custom embedded design then the PCB in Altium or OrCAD.
Also have a motion tracking test that I knocked up in Powershell if anyone wants a look (Basic theory then used in a design using 2 STM32F429 and CycloneIII FPGA’s for real speed).
Details here.
http://tinyurl.com/gnb4v2u

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