Surprisingly, I have never talked about my master's research project on the blog. Formally, the title of my project is "the design and development of dedicated parkour training apparatuses for use within a controlled gym environment". For anyone unfamiliar with parkour, here is a little primer. Parkour is the efficient movement from point A to point B. Its a young sport that is gaining popularity quickly but does not yet have a strong infrastructure to support it. As a result, potential new parkourists (traceurs) try parkour without alot of guidance, are attempting skill beyond their ability, and often get hurt. Parkour training in the urban environment can be dangerous for experienced traceurs too (concrete isn't very forgiving).
Right now traceurs will often use existing gymnastics facilities to train and small parkour gyms are starting to pop up. My idea is to design dedicated parkour equipment that can be used in and make use of the safety features in gymnastics and other gym environments. The ultimate goal is to start people thinking about the training needs of traceurs and hopefully jumpstart the growth of the parkour infrastructure.
My first round of concepts are after the jump. If any traceurs stumble upon the blog I'd love to get your feedback, either by email or in the comments section.
