Environment-Scale Fabrication: Replicating Outdoor Climbing Experiences
ACM CHI 2017
Emily Whiting, Nada Ouf, Liane Makatura, Christos Mousas, Zhenyu Shu & Ladislav Kavan
Abstract
Despite rapid advances in 3D printing, fabricating large, durable and robust artifacts is impractical with current technology. We focus on a particularly challenging environment-scale artifact: rock climbing routes. We propose a prototype fabrication method to replicate part of an outdoor climbing route and enable the same sensorimotor experience in an indoor gym. We start with 3D reconstruction of the rock wall using multi-view stereo and use reference videos of a climber in action to identify localized rock features that are necessary for ascent. We create 3D models akin to traditional indoor climbing holds, fabricated using rapid prototyping, molding and casting techniques. This results in robust holds accurately replicating the features and configuration of the original rock route. Validation was performed on two rock climbing sites in New Hampshire and Utah. We verified our results by comparing climbers moves on the indoor replicas and original outdoor routes.
bibtex
@inproceedings{whiting:chi:2017, author= {Emily Whiting and Nada Ouf and Liane Makatura and Christos Mousas and Zhenyu Shu and Ladislav Kavan}, title = {Environment-Scale Fabrication: Replicating Outdoor Climbing Experiences}, booktitle = {Proc.\ 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems}, publisher = {ACM}, year= {2017}, pages = {1794--1804}, }
NEWS
April 30, 2018: Outside Magazine: “How Two Scientists Will Build Mountains“
June 19, 2017: NBC 5: “Dartmouth-led research team replicates expert climbing routes using 3-D modeling”
June 4, 2017: U.S. News & World Report: “System Aims to Recreate Challenging Mountain Climbs in Gym”
June 4, 2017: Daily Mail: “Scale the Alps from anywhere: 3D printing algorithm can replicate any mountain in the gym”
May 14, 2017: KSL News: “U. professor uses 3-D printing to replicate climbing routes”
May 11, 2017: Digital Trends: “Artifice mimics nature as expert rock-climbing route re-created via 3D modeling”
May 9, 2017: CNN: “3D modeling lets rock climbers replicate real mountains -- in the gym”
May 9, 2017: engadget: “3D modeling helps gym climbers replicate real mountain routes”