The
shock and frustration that comes along with a come-from-behind win from one’s opponent
is every athlete’s worst nightmare. Thanks to the invention of Swim Vision Goggles,
however, swimmers are one less demographic who will have to suffer from this
misfortune. There are few things in this world that are worse than thinking
that you are winning a swim race in an 8 lane pool, only to find out that you
were out-touched by a competitor four lanes away from you, completely out of
your peripheral vision. Top name brands such as Speedo and TYR tried to come up
with a solution to this problem, but none have come close until Swim Vision.
The leading designers in the industry have tried creating goggles that allow
swimmers to keep an eye on their competition by allowing them so see out of
their peripheral vision with mirrored lenses, but Swim Vision goes beyond that.
Swim Vision allows swimmers to literally watch their own race from an aerial
view so that they can monitor the progress and speed of every single swimmer in
their race.
There is a tiny monitor in the
goggle lenses that display the race being recorded by a camera positioned
somewhere above the pool. The video being played in the lenses will be
transparent so that the swimmers can still see where he/she is going. If the
screen is too distracting, however, swimmers have the option to turn off the
video or they will receive alerts that flashing across the screen with messages
such as “approaching wall” or “flip turn in 5 yards.”
Swim Vision will have two different
modes, “Competition Mode” and “Practice Mode.” Competition Mode will consist of
the settings mentioned above while Practice Mode will have very different
features. Practice mode will calculate a swimmer’s heart rate, pace, burned
calories and laps completed. These results will be displayed in the upper right
or left-hand (whichever the swimmer prefers) corner of the goggle lenses and
alternate flashing across the screen. Swimmers also have the option to turn off
the goggles with just the press of a button on the outer, upper right hand lens
of the goggles.
I really like the concept of this idea, and I think a lot of competitive swimmers could benefit from it. However, I think showing aerial view of the entire race might be somewhat distracting and hard for the swimmer to read with a quick glace, especially if the race is particularly close. I think if there were a way to include an option to see only what place the swimmer was currently in, the product would be easier to use. Although some would still prefer to see an aerial view of the whole pool, a simpler view would probably be better for some!
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of tracking other racers to determine your overall performance. I understand where your approach was in terms of improving a swimmers overall experience, but it sounds like it is distracting as well as the concentration aspect of swimming and focusing on your performance and not others. I'm not a swimmer so I can completely wrong but it sounds like it could go wrong and the option to turn it off because of the distraction just feels like there reason to be cautious. Now on the flip side it can be beneficial for beginners and young kids who want to improve there performance as well as a great product for instagram and other social media outlets as you have mentioned. It all depends on what the product is looking to service, performance or promotion.
ReplyDeleteI think this is an amazing idea! I'm not a professional swimmer but I can recall having swimming competitions with my friends while at the neighborhood pool. I agree that it could be distracting but the positives definitely outweigh the negatives.
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