Seeking Feedback: Motorized Rotating Climbing Holds Project

Hello all, 

I posted something similar in general climbing but feel another conversation in here could be a great help.

I’m a student at CU Boulder, and for my senior engineering project, I’m developing a climbing training board where users can adjust the angle of certain holds. I am using a stepper motor and worm gearbox behind the wall, which will rotate the hold to the users desired angle when they set or light up a climb. 

Most people accept board climbing as one of the best indoor training methods for bouldering. Would you all use or be excited about a board where you could change the angle of the holds? My idea with this is it makes training more engaging and fun, setters have creative freedom, users have the opportunity to modify a climb to make it easier or harder to their training need. I also think setting replica boulders would be much more feasible with this product.

Let me know your insights on this board from a training point of view. While I am committed to this for my final project, it isn't a requirement that this is a great training method, it is more just a fun challenge. Please respond to this post and let me know what you think!

-Joe Yoder

If you would like to reach out to me directly, or think you can help in any way (providing parts, holds, etc. or have experience with a similar project) please shoot an email to joyo1849@colorado.edu

thanks!

Maybe not relevant to your engineering project, but if one has access and permission to change the angle of holds we can already do that by simply changing the angle and even the position and shape of the hold manually.

Victor Creazziwrote:

Maybe not relevant to your engineering project, but if one has access and permission to change the angle of holds we can already do that by simply changing the angle and even the position and shape of the hold manually.

That’s true for the actual angle of the board itself as well. I think the value here would be being able to “set a problem” and then when someone sends it to the board, the board would automatically adjust all of the holds necessary at once.

OP I think a board where you do it for every hold seems like overkill - but using the TB2 as a use case, since it has a lot of dual-Tex holds, that could be pretty sweet. Something where you could turn a hold from a down-pulling hold into an undercling, or force a dual-Tex only foot, etc. I would constrain your design a bit more and make it so the holds can only flip between two toggleable fixed positions (I think the most practical application is a board where ~10-20% of holds are able to be rotated and they can only be rotated into 1 of 2 or 3 fixed positions), but doing it with total flexibility is probably better from an engineering proof of concept

Before you even would build something.  You would need to be able to measure the torque that is applied to the bolt.  You would need a stepper motor with enough holding torque to oppose that force.  Bigger holds will produce more torque at the bolt.

For me, the most interesting idea in this space would be a hangboard with dynamic loading. You could have a hang start out easy and get progressively harder as the hold rotates, or the reverse where it gets easier as you tire so you can hold longer. Even better would be a feedback mechanism, where the hold adjusts difficulty to keep you just below your limit or in some specific zone of difficulty if that is better for training.

Tal Mwrote:

That’s true for the actual angle of the board itself as well. I think the value here would be being able to “set a problem” and then when someone sends it to the board, the board would automatically adjust all of the holds necessary at once.

OP I think a board where you do it for every hold seems like overkill - but using the TB2 as a use case, since it has a lot of dual-Tex holds, that could be pretty sweet. Something where you could turn a hold from a down-pulling hold into an undercling, or force a dual-Tex only foot, etc. I would constrain your design a bit more and make it so the holds can only flip between two toggleable fixed positions (I think the most practical application is a board where ~10-20% of holds are able to be rotated and they can only be rotated into 1 of 2 or 3 fixed positions), but doing it with total flexibility is probably better from an engineering proof of concept

Exactly! I am definitely not doing every hold, 1 for cost reasons and 2 for overkill. For the purpose of this project I want full range of motion with the angle selection, but I like where your head is at. Are you thinking something that is still motorized to move to the fixed position or mechanical. Developing a mecanical system that pops out a hold to move it to another fixed angle could be sick for something like a homewall where you don't wanna change the holds/feet all the time.

Alex Rwrote:

For me, the most interesting idea in this space would be a hangboard with dynamic loading. You could have a hang start out easy and get progressively harder as the hold rotates, or the reverse where it gets easier as you tire so you can hold longer. Even better would be a feedback mechanism, where the hold adjusts difficulty to keep you just below your limit or in some specific zone of difficulty if that is better for training.

I have thought about scaling down to Hangboard and making it like this. My idea was having slopers that get steeper and steeper like the ones on the beastmaker 2000. What concept were you thinking for the type of hold? Jugs that become underclings? Crimps that get smaller?

The idea sounds fun and I can see it helping people dial in specific grip positions without swapping holds every time. The real test is durability because training boards take a beating. If the system stays solid and doesn’t shift under load, I think a lot of home wall climbers would be into it.