journal article·2025-08-14Open access

Speed Climbing Analysis System Based on Spatial Positioning and Posture Recognition: Design and Effectiveness Assessment

Pingao Huang, Tianzhan Huang, Zhihong Xu, Yuankang Zhang, Hui Wang

Applied Sciences· Volume 15· Issue 16

Abstract

The human body posture and trajectory are important parameters of the optimal path in speed climbing, and current researchers are focused on them. However, the performance of the newly developed analysis tools for synchronously and accurately analyzing climbing posture and trajectory is limited. This study develops an innovative speed climbing analysis system (SCAS) that integrates three-dimensional trajectory tracking using HTC Vive trackers and full-body posture capture with BlazePose. And the system is validated. Climbing trials were recorded from twelve professional athletes (speed climbers, eight males and four females; age 22 ± 2.2 years, all with ≥1 year of competitive experience) on a standard International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) speed wall. The SCAS’s accuracy was analyzed by comparing its trajectory measurements to a video-based reference: the mean deviation was 0.061 ± 0.005 m (mean ± SD, 95% confidence interval [0.058, 0.064] m), indicating high precision. Trajectory metrics between genders were compared using independent-sample t-tests, revealing that male climbers had significantly shorter average path lengths (p < 0.05) and fewer movement inflections than female climbers. Finally, the group-optimal path derived from the data showed only slight deviations from the top-performing climbers’ paths. The proposed SCAS enables synchronous, millimeter-level tracking of climbing trajectory and posture, and can provide coaches with quantitative feedback for each athlete’s climbing strategy.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline

Research context

OpenAlex topics: Gaze Tracking and Assistive Technology · Human Pose and Action Recognition · Hand Gesture Recognition Systems

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

School of Electronic Engineering and Automation, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin 541004, China

Key Laboratory of Intelligence Integrated Automation, Guangxi University, Guilin 541004, China

Shenzhen RunYiTaiYi Technology Co., Ltd., Shenzhen 518055, China

Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Joint Laboratory of Human-Machine Intelligence-Synergy Systems, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China

Funding

Shenzhen Science and Technology Program · National Natural Science Foundation of China · Shenzhen Medical Research Fund

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