What do software simulations and NASCAR have in common? Apparently, a lot. Both are innovative.
Today NASCAR folks are working with all sorts of software solutions, like DELMIA Robotics for a 3D welding simulation tool, for example. But how else could racing benefit from software simulation, I wondered. Could a pit stop be simulated and if so, could time be saved?
With DELMIA Virtual Ergonomics, you can virtually perfect the technical aspects of human intervention and race cars. Thanks to the folks at Gillett Evernham Motorsports, our DELMIA team got the data needed to create a sample AVI that simulates an actual NASCAR pit stop. Check out this AVI below (select low or high resolution) for an impressive pit stop simulation:
Will it ever be put to actual use? Could time actually be saved by simulating a pit stop? Who knows? But this I know for sure. The days of dirt tracks, gear heads, and old-school race car methods have changed into a 21st Century techie innovative wonderland—as seen with this AVI! Feel the need for speed?
Now that I think about it, motorsports overall have come a long way in their own right. The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), for instance, started out humble and has grown not only in numbers, but in innovativeness as well. The time was February 21, 1948 when the new organization sanctioned its first race on the Daytona Beach “road” (mainly sand) race course. Amid an impressive amount of fans—14,000—the first NASCAR event was underway. Today, it is a far cry from its modest roots. With an estimated 75 million fans and a need for speed and innovation, NASCAR has gone to the next level. And so has software.
A special thanks to Lucas Giusti and Julie Charland whose hard work and talent made the pit stop crew come to life with the DELMIA Ergonomics simulation!
I used to go to summer camp every year, and one of my favorite activities was canoeing. After years of summer paddling and the occasional family “Canoe the New” trip, I graduated to what I thought was a much more exhilarating paddling sport, funyacking.(See ‘inflatable kayaks’, aka duckies.)With all the perks of kayaking but less possibility to get stuck upside down under water, this seemed to me like an innovative improvement to my world of paddling.
Who knew that all these years later, civil engineering students would be working to make technically advanced canoes—with concrete?I thought the advances in canoeing stopped when they went from wood to aluminum?At least I felt secure in the silver metallic ones used at camp.Difficult to bust those babies!
The running segment of the V+R Challenge is officially closed. (You can still play with the Virtual Run application, but as of today it won’t count towards Sports Without Borders support.) To thank you for following us, submitting your virtual run, and cheering Philippe Fuchs on from the virtual sidelines, I’ve selected a special video for your watching and listening pleasure:
Why 10,000 times “thank you”? Because if you add:
• 780 virtual kilometers run by cyber-athletes like yourself
• 8,487 real kilometers run by Philippe Fuchs
• Not to mention the virtual racing kilometers racked up by the McKinley school
• And of course we cannot forget the real kilometers biked and driven by the V+R Boys, Daniel Grassy and Bernard Robutel . . .
Then you have WELL over 10,000 kilometers; so a Thank You for each one seems only appropriate!
The next portion of the V+R Challenge involves scientists from the Scientific Motion Institute. Once there’s news about their 3D study of the human foot, I’ll blog about it on 3DSports.
Changing gears, I thought you may like to see how Google Analytics ranks 3DSports’ most popular blog posts.
In addition to covering the V+R Challenge, I’ve really enjoyed writing about the hidden world of sports and would like to thank those who’ve followed, participated in our conversations, and also to people stumbling upon 3DSports just now. (There are ~ 50 blog posts to discover.)
On a personal note, my “sports innovation” is that I’ve started running, and I largely attribute this to being so involved with the V+R Challenge. I figure if Philippe Fuchs, a 57-year-old virtual reality professor, can run from Paris to Beijing in 161 days, then I should be able to will my 30-something-year-old self to jog around the neighborhood twice a week. “Challenge” is relative after all, n’est-ce pas?
Didn’t know about it? (Or just between us, perhaps a little lazy or indifferent?) Well, you missed your chance!
Eh? What’s that I hear? (A little Mehdi Tayoubi bird is whispering in my ear . . .)
“Kate, we’ve extended the virtual run deadline to September 15,” says Mehdi bird.
Did I hear that right?
“I said, WE’VE EXTENDED THE VIRTUAL RUN DEADLINE TO SEPTEMBER 15!” repeats Mehdi bird.
GREAT!
Now you, reader, yes YOU! Get your webcam/digital camera out and let ‘er rip!
–Kate
P.S. Don’t forget to show your ears in both photos for your photorealistic 3D avatar. To create your photorealistic 3D avatar (your virtual runner), the system needs to see your forehead, mouth and ears to recreate you!
P.P.S. Why not have a virtual run party/teambuilding activity, gathering your friends or coworkers for a V+R Challenge photo shoot and virtual run submission session?
They said it. Philippe Fuchs, Bernard Robutel, Daniel Grassy, Nathalie Fuchs.
I scanned the V+R Challenge TVnima episodes and extracted what I find to be the most entertaining quotes. Think David Letterman’s Top Ten countdowns, with number one as the most entertaining.
(On another level I find the compilation kind of profound and poetic.)
Top 10 entertaining quotes:
10.) Do you see the monument there? It’s a missile-launcher. (Bernard, near Russian border)
9.) Well no one’s in the kitchen; we’ll have to cook the kebabs ourselves. (Daniel, in Russia’s Ural region)
8.) I don’t know how we’re going to get it to work. It’s not with my little hands that we’ll get it to work. (Bernard, in Ural region)
7.) I told you last night not to go that way. (Philippe, still in the Ural region)
6.) We don’t know them, but they give us gifts along the route, they stop to talk with us. For example, one person gave us a little skeleton to hang from the rear view mirror; another gave us a religious figurine. (Bernard, before entering Siberia)
5.) I would never run from Paris to Beijing virtually! It’s much better in reality. (Philippe, somewhere in Siberia)
4.) I think they’re going to arrest me. (Bernard, in the Ural region)
3.) The vendor took pieces of pork out of the trunk of his car and cut off pieces with an axe! (Nathalie, in the outskirts of Novosibirsk)
2.) Maybe it’s more natural to run than to walk. (Philippe, approaching Siberia)
1.)To everyone, 8,500 ‘thank-yous’ for the adventure of my life!!! (Philippe, in Beijing)
Depending on how you measure it (including its presence in Inner Mongolia or not), the Great Wall of China stretches between 6,400-6,700 kilometers.
Philippe Fuchs has just run over 27-32 percent a longer distance than the Great Wall of China.
Has it sunk in yet?
Let me put it another way. In just 24 weeks and 161 days, after having started his V+R Challenge run in Paris on March 7, Philippe Fuchs has worn out 10 pairs of running shoes and made it to Beijing after footing 8,500 kilometers across 2 continents and 7 countries. (Breath here)
Before getting to the congratulations bit, I can’t help but reflect about the V+R Challenge and the Great Wall of China.
A wall is at the same time a boundary and something to overcome or breach. The Great Wall of China was built to protect the Chinese Empire’s territory. It was a place to watch for the enemy and at times the scene of battle. At one point over a million men guarded it. It was also a passageway for those who earned the right, whether by birth, trade or combat, to enter China. Even today its mere presence instills awe, respect and a desire to conquer.
The V+R Challenge was in several ways a monumental boundary to overcome. For one, the idea of running from Paris to Beijing in 24 consecutive weeks is a pretty big blocking point for any athlete. Doing it means ‘running up against the wall’ day after day, having to overcome your joggling physical, mental and emotional conditions, as well as escaping unharmed from attacking dogs, nasty customs officers, icy snow and suffocating dessert heat. 8,500 kilometers.
The V+R Challenge is also the beginning of breaking through a scientific wall. Not Trojan Horse style, but the old fashioned way, step by step. In wall-breaking terms, the data gathered from Fuchs’ feet represents a warrior approaching the Great Wall and hacking out some stones with his axe. A lot more maneuvering is needed before breaking through. By breaking through I mean creating the world’s first scientifically valid virtual human foot, one that functions exactly as it would in the real world (with all 26 bones, 16 joints, 107 ligaments and 20 muscles).
Thanks to support generated for the charity Sports Without Borders through Philippe’s physical and your virtual kilometers run, the NGO is better armed to help international children overcome their own ‘walls’ through adapted therapeutic and rehabilitative sports programs.
So that they may progressively help more and more children surmount their difficulties, the France-headquartered NGO also hoped to overcome worldwide awareness ‘borders’ and boost international awareness necessary for fundraising. A relatively young NGO on the international scene, Sports Without Borders has made a global splash with the V+R Challenge. So far the V+R website has been visited by close to 150,000 Internet users from around the world (161 countries/territories to be exact). China, USA, Israel, France, and Morocco . . . Panama, Ukraine, Finland, Vietnam, Iran, Greece, Romania, India, Mexico . . .
(I’m happy to say that 3DSports has received visitors from 91 countries and territories.)
On a less serious but irresistible note, if you look at maps of the Great Wall of China like the one below, doesn’t it remind you of the V+R Challenge route?
I saved the best for last. Philippe Fuchs and the V+R Boys, Daniel Grassy and Bernard Robutel, as well as our intermittent V+R Gal, Anouk Garcia, literally surmounted the Great Wall of China! Here’s a victory photo taken by Anouk featuring from left to right Bernard, Philippe and Daniel. Look carefully, and you’ll see that they’re not doing the YMCA, they’re doing the WOW! Body language is powerful, eh?
Please join me in congratulating Philippe Fuchs and his cohorts in their accomplishment of a Great-Wall monumental feat!
–Kate
P.S. Now it’s okay to go ahead, pop open your champagne bottle and start-a-sippin!
P.P.S. This is not the end of the V+R Challenge. Stay tuned to 3DSports for more . . .
Worldwide
