Rock climbers now have an additional means of assessing their performance that goes beyond traditional observation. The ClimbAX is a sensor-equipped wristband that helps determine how efficiently climbers ascend a rock face by analyzing their movement.

According to an article posted on New Scientist, the plastic wristband includes 3D motion, orientation, and altitude sensors that work together to gather data during the climb. When the climber is done, they can download the data through a simple USB port.

“A machine learning algorithm then identifies their individual moves and makes an assessment of their skill level,” the article stated.

The product was developed by Cassim Ladha and colleagues at the University of Newcastle in the United Kingdom. The idea for creating the wristband came from the concept of personal, professional coaching. Most climbers cannot afford or would rather not spend money on this means of possible improvement, so the goal was to translate coaching advice into a piece of technology that was more affordable.

The two main points of interest in the development process were looking at the climbers’ overall control, which is described as their ability to make clean transitions between holds, as well as their stability, which measures their ability to maintain a hold and stay calm while in progress.

“This is where poorer climbers can tend to struggle,” Ladha said to delegates at Ubicomp, which is a wearable computing conference in Zurich, Switzerland that was held last week. “Improving control or stability could drastically improve a climbers’ chances of survival.”

Overall, when the climber downloads the data, they can see the categories of Power, Control, Stability, and Speed, which breaks down their performance and allows them to compare climbs to track changes.

More specifically, the software is looking for nervy “microvibrations” that are evident in holds and moves, implying that composure or stability is at a reduced level. Ladha said during tests on six volunteer climbers who each had the device on a roped climb, the system scored the climbers’ skills at levels near what they had achieved in competition climbing. While expert climbers can look at the data, see areas where they are lacking, and adapt to make changes, getting used to these new movements isn’t as easy for the novice climber to conform to.

The next goal for the team of developers is to present ClimbAX to less-experienced climbers in a simpler way that can encourage improvement.

“We want it to be able to help people make less silly decisions by recommending exercises they can do,” Ladha said.

Iwona Kulczynska-Evans, a coach at the Castle Climbing Centre in north London, said this technology could be extremely beneficial in collaboration with existing video analysis of climbs.

“This definitely sounds interesting,” Kulczynska-Evans said in the article. “If it works, it might complement video analysis by helping people read their climbing sequences better.”

To check out the full paper of how ClimbAX was developed, click here. The product is not yet on the market, but the website will be updated with progress.

Image from gego2605 on the Wikimedia Commons