While “smart” surfing may seem like a bit of a paradox for a sport well renowned for its laid-back participants, Lazerand claims it helps him to become a better athlete.
“It’s helped me become more consistent,” he said, noting that the data allowed him to adapt his cross-training to match his surfing style. “You have to be mentally and physically prepared, and the data I get from the Sys-Evo helps me do that. I’m not a tech guy, but this is really cool.”
The culmination of five years of research, the Sys-Evo is apparently so lightweight that some surfers have asked if the firm could possibly make it a bit heavier, in order to weigh the nose of the board down more on difficult waves. Users can also input data before surfing, like tides from the online tidebooks, which not only helps surfer safety, but can also tell the user when the best tide moment will be and where.
Surfboard equipped with Syride's MEMS-enabled Sys-Evo device.
The module itself contains a nine-axis accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, and allows for data to be collected both in and out of the water. “Surfers are big liars; they always want to brag and exaggerate to friends about the height of waves and their performance, but MEMS eliminates that,” explained Lazerand, joking that he’d even tried to hack his device to change the data after several instances of poor personal performance.
Not all surfers are particularly keen to adopt the new technology, however, with Lazerand noting that many were still a little wary of the technology. “I’ve had the most success with younger kids who love video games and grew up with the availability of data collection,” he said.
Whether the trend will spread or eventually dissolve, however, remains to be seen.
I wonder how far we are from being able to record the perfect golf swing and then compare yours to the one on the screen. We all know several people will do whatever they can to improve their ability in the sports arena. I don't think it will be long before the technology allows everyone to hit the ball like Tiger Woods. Now the interesting part for me will be to see if the perfectly trained athelete will be as good as the naturally trained. Can computers and science replace natural ability? Or will science reach it's limits before human nature which can go the extra mile.
I think this was the technology used in Avatar to get the facial expressions of the actors onto the alien characters. They fitted the actors with facial sensors so they could capture emotional expressions.
MEMS was a nice step forward for moviemaking "mo-cap," Rob. Until they time moviemakers used special suits with luminous markers on them. MEMS gives much more realistic motion, I'm told.
Yes, I can see why MEMS would provide a more realistic depiction of character movement. I would guess that it comes down to a greater degree of data and thus a higher detailed capture of movement.
As energy efficiency becomes more and more a concern for makers of electronics devices, researchers are coming up with new ways to harvest energy from sound vibration, footsteps, and even electromagnetic fields in the air.
The government wants to study your brain, and DARPA wants to use similar information to give robots true autonomy beyond any artificial intelligence developed to date. Sound like science fiction? It's not.
By refining topologies and using new fluid technology, Moog's new peak sine drive controller increases available power without increasing controller volume.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 3
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
7 
