Paravengers
Climbing for the visually impaired
University
Hogeschool van Amsterdam - AUAS
Agency Partner
Greenberry |
Timeline:
8 weeks
Interactive Design
Raising Awareness
PARAVENGERS
Climbing for the visually impaired
Context
The brief focuses on how digital technology can empower disabled amateur athletes, enhancing their autonomy
Project Role
User Experience Researcher
Technologist
Prototyping
Problem and overview
Visually impaired athletes, in this project, particularly climbers, face unique challenges that often limit their independence and enjoyment of sports. They struggle with spatial awareness, making it difficult to perceive the climbing wall's layout and plan routes. Navigating between holds and distinguishing their types becomes a significant hurdle without clear visual cues. Many rely heavily on sighted guides, which can lead to social isolation and a lack of autonomy in their athletic pursuits.
While specialized equipment exists, it's often expensive and not widely available. We believe technology should bridge these gaps, enabling visually impaired athletes to climb and engage in sports more independently. By addressing challenges in spatial perception, navigation, and hold identification, we can create solutions that empower these athletes rather than limiting them, fostering a more inclusive and accessible sporting environment.
Research Phase
Observing how indoor climbing is done in indoor halls, getting familiar with the dynamic and atmosphere of the halls, and the mindset of climbers helped to gather facts like:
how indoor climbing works helped us to work on the solution best for VI (Visually Impaired) climbers:
1. Difficulty Level: - Athletes look at color-coded difficulty guides.
* VI athletes struggle to distinguish colors.
2. Route Visualization: - Athletes study and visualize the route and movements before starting the journey on the wall.
* VI athletes have difficulty distinguishing grips and understanding the route due to sight problems.
3. Starting and Finishing Tags: - Athletes find tags indicating starting and finishing holds. tags are simply a piece of paper sticker behind the grips.
4. Trial and Error: - Athletes get familiar with holds through trial and error, focusing on safe falling zones.
* VI athletes may struggle to find and recognize holds and calculate safe jumping distances quickly.
Design through digital and physical prototyping
The primary aim was to create a device that operates independently of climbers' phones, respecting their preferences and minimizing distractions. Simultaneously, we prioritized scalability to manage costs for stakeholders, including visually impaired (VI) climbers and indoor climbing hall owners.
Our approach offered both integrated solutions for climbing halls and individual options for VI climbers. To validate these ideas, I developed a functional prototype using an Arduino UNO board, that helps to show the concept of lighting up the holds of the selected route for climbers and integrating an audio guide at the beginning of each route.
How it works
