RFID Gazette

April 05, 2007

RFID + Sports: Parkour - Urban Acrobatics

Back in the late 80s, when I lived in Toronto, I had a skinhead buddy who liked to intimidate people. One trick he'd pull was to have me stand still on the sidewalk and he'd run, vault over my shoulders, and virtually float over my head. He'd then do the same over parking meters, over and over until he got a reaction from passersby. I can't remember if he was a Jackie Chan fan, but people either thought it was cool or would be scared of him.

Nowadays, this sort of urban acrobatics (aka parkour, freerunning, freestyling) is becoming commonplace, as witnessed by the 20 videos in the SplashCast included in this post. (Works like a slideshow, but each "slide" is a YouTube video.)

What some Parkour fans have done, though, is turned their acrobatics into a sort of performance course using RFID tags and readers. The gist of it is that they'll wear tags on their clothes or as part of a wristband. A course will have been plotted out beforehand, and RFID readers will be placed at key points, recording when a participant passes by.

It's an ingenious use of technology, but with or without it, it's incredible to watch these guys and gals defying gravity. Of course, the standard disclaimers apply: don't try this at home without someone to train you. Somewhere on YouTube is a video of people getting hurt in Parkour.

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April 5, 2007 in Applications, Consumer Use | Permalink

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