Shifting Planes: Creating a Wall

Second part of my Master’s thesis

Introduction
During the fall quarter I began my research into AR/VR technology and rock climbing. The field research I conducted included testing out different camera experiments while climbing to record and compare the view of the climber vs. the belayer. Through this, I found a few friction points that provided some insight into possible directions:

• Communication of climbers and belayer is not always clear. For a beginner climber, this is especially important as they usually rely on a more experienced climber (usually belays) for guidance.
• The belayer and the climber’s perspective can be vastly different and skewed. What looks close to the belayer, can in reality be farther than perceived.
• The climber’s perception of distance and depth can also be skewed due to the close proximity to the wall, sometimes climbing holds can look easy to grip only to find the opposite. Similarly, sometimes a hold can look within reach, until the climber attempts to reach and lacks the span to do so.

Based on initial observations, my thesis intended to focus on the communication between the climber and belayer using AR to facilitate clearer beta. By the end of phase one, I concluded that while communication and clear line of sight is important, verbal communication became less essential as a climber advanced. At times, a climber will climb on without the need for beta, even after they are stumped. Rather their belayer is there for support and safety. With this new insight, I pivoted directions and turned my focus on the climber. The friction garnered from the earlier direction is still valid when isolating the pain points for a climber:

• Perception of distances is still skewed, sometimes making it difficult to always successfully access and reach for a hold.
• Climbers measure their ability to successfully complete a move through their fingers and toes. If their grip or balance are no good, then they are more likely to fall.

Knowing these friction points, I questioned how to better train climbers to successfully overcome these challenges. When we consider the difference between indoor and outdoor climbing, climbing indoors is not always a one-to-one experience with outdoor climbing. In fact, I would argue that it can be quite different. If you were to look at the holds used commonly in indoor climbing, the holds are less similar to the pockets and holds you would see on a rock wall. Therefore, training for outdoor climbing in an indoor gym, doesn’t entirely make the most sense. Gyms can still set crux movements to mimic the movements of an outdoor route and sometimes professional climbers route set in their own climbing space, making training still possible. But this is not accessible to everyone, nor does it always make the most sense to do. For this reason, I wanted to focus my thesis on training for outdoor climbing in an indoor setting, using VR and a physical component to closely simulate the outdoor climbing experience. I was mostly inspired when I was watching a short documentary by Reel Rock Films of climber Margo Hayes trying to send (to complete in one attempt) a 5.15 climb. In one clip she shows a paper diagram of all the marked holds on the route. She is mentally recreates every movement by moving her hands in the air while viewing her paper diagram. This moment made me ask, why couldn’t we make it more accessible for climbers to train for a particular route without the need to wait for a gym to route-set the movements or to wait until the climber is able to journey out to the site. Could we make a simulation using a combination of a mechanical climbing wall and a VR overlay to create a training tool to allow climbers to easily access various outdoor climbs and practice?

The first step I took was setting up new design tasks to achieve this new direction.

1. Research kinetic architecture and mechanics
2. Brainstorm how this wall could look like
3. Build a virtual environment

• Render a climbing wall
• Route set the climbing wall
• Route set the climbing wall
• Map each contact point

4. Place into a VR device

5. Test and revise

Research
I knew at the start that I needed to ideate a wall that could live in an indoor environment. This wall had to have the capabilities to transform for several different climbs. I researched different forms of kinetic objects from shape shifting architecture to multi-directional treadmills. The issue was that many of these forms were large budget projects that required extensive mechanics to make them operate. If this wall was going to be housed indoors, it needed to be reasonably simple. Could it be made of multiple panels that were connected on a single track system? What if it was a series of track systems with adjustable arms that had contact points? What if it was a more advanced version of a climbing treadmill?

To figure out some of the answers to these questions I did a quick sketch session to work through various ideations of the wall.

Sketch 1 by Axel Roesler

Sketch 2 by Rebecca Rhee

The wall needed to have a few essential features:

• The wall needed to have the ability to tilt and create overhangs
• It need to have some time of movement simulate upward movement in a smooth and continuous fashion
• It needed to be large enough to account for a variety of heights and distances.
• The holds needed to rotate and move across the wall to afford for various combinations of movements.

It ultimately arrived at a wall made up of a series of panels that would either have each corner controlled by an air pump that could create facets. It would be covered by neoprene like material to help cover up the exposed seams and magnetic holds that could rotate and move across the wall to create new touch points.

Once I had a better idea of the direction of the wall, I moved on to concentrate on the virtual overlay. I needed to model a rock wall and create a scene in Unity that I could place into a VR head mounted display. Due to the availability of many integrations in Unity, I went with an Oculus Quest. In order to have the best possible chance at creating a better experience, I used a high-poly rock wall rendering created by HDRI SKIES. This will allow me to concentrate on the interaction model of the climber in the virtual space.

Next Steps
Due to the fact that the wall is not modeled after an existing route, I need route-set the path myself in order to mark where I’ll need the physical holds to be placed. To do this, I needed to place the rendering to scale inside a VR environment and proceed from there.