Augmented Reality Climbing Walls Turn Mountaineering Into a Game

There are loads of reasons to take on a climbing bulwark at your local gymnasium : it ’s not bad workout , it can better your script - eye coordination , and it serve instill useful mountain climbing skill should you ever find yourself ensnare on a drop . But researchers at Aalto University in Finlandwant to take them one step furtherthrough the use of Kinect sensors and projectors that turn climbing rampart into interactive game .

Climbers are advance to move about on the wall while they seek to forfend animated obstruction that randomly cross their paths , but the system is n’t just about games . Since the Kinect sensor can track a climber ’s attitude on the bulwark , the augmented reality projections can be used as a agency to show an amateur climber where the next best grasp might be . Or it could just be used to record a climb , providing valuable rematch information as a crampon works to improve their proficiency .

Right now the setup is only work in a laboratory , but because it uses pronto available electronics like projectors and the Xbox ’s Kinect sensor , it can be easy implemented anywhere , and its creators are work on put in one in an real indoor climbing facility this fall . [ New Scientist ]