As part of the investment in sports-related research at Chalmers University of Technology, we have developed a "smart fence" for the 2016 Gothenburg Horse Show. This is the first time a fence is equipped with sensors that register the distance between the pole and the horse's hooves. The results will be displayed to the audience during the competitions. Our vision is that the technology developed will be used as a training tool to find the most effective way of jumping and to minimize wear and tear of the horse’s joints.
A project group consisting of eight students from seven different educational programmes at Chalmers have used engineering and design skills to develop the winning entry in a design contest among Chalmers students. In the process, the students have met many challenges such as using materials that are light without making the fence prone to tip over, making sure the sensors register the “correct” data – and not e.g. the horse’s tail – and that they are capable of adjusting to slopes in the riding surface, and ensuring wireless data transfer in surroundings where many other sources of communication may interfere. In addition, all the details of the fence are manufactured and painted by hand.
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You are welcome to visit our booth B06:12 at Eurohorse, or to listen to one of our presentations in Twentyfourseven! Here is the program for the "Speakers stage" in Twentyfourseven.
Press images:
The Chalmers Fence in Scandinavium March 25
Photo: Jonas Stenström
Chalmers students Linnéa Sjöberg and Åsa Rogenfelt performing tests with the sensors
Photo: Anna-Lena Lundqvist
Sandra Gustafsson, with the horse Kaminskij, Swedish Champion in eventing, testing the sensors
Photo: Per Thorén
Chalmers students Åsa Rogenfelt and Christos_Saplachidis mounting the sensors
Photo: Anna-Lena Lundqvist
Sensor mounted on the fence
Photo: Per Thorén