Sunrise, Laax, and iRewind are launching the world’s first personal halfpipe videos

The Laax tourist region has been home to the largest halfpipe in the world since 2015. Anyone who takes the plunge, whether professional athlete or freestyle enthusiast, will want to keep a memento of this experience forever. For this reason, fully automatic video technology from iRewind has now been installed on the halfpipe. At the end of their runs, riders will receive their personalized video. This service is the permanent continuation of a pilot project that was successfully implemented at the beginning of 2020.

To take advantage of the offer, all you need to do is install the app for the Swiss destination Laax on your smartphone. You can take the run with you as an experience, share it with friends and followers, and rate your experience directly. Thanks to the 5G network from Sunrise, it is also produced and sent to the rider in a matter of minutes.

The use of computer vision in particular contributes to the success of the app. From the moment riders identify themselves with their tickets when entering the halfpipe, they are tracked by several cameras until they leave the pipe. Learning algorithms enable the best shot at any point in time. The video is automatically cut, set to music, and rendered. This makes it possible then to make the video available to riders in real time just moments after their rides. The integration of computer vision analysis in the iRewind software is a milestone for the iRewind solutions portfolio – iRewind is now able to understand what is happening in the video.

According to Andreas Herren, Co-Owner and Head of Product at iRewind, the challenge lies in what is known as “denoising,” removing distractions from the video. This might include other people in the entrance area of the pipe or the cameras swinging in the wind. However, iRewind’s software solves these problems very well.

Similar installations like that at Laax are conceivable in many other areas of sport and tourism and are already being planned. The capturing process always works the same way. Only the algorithm needs to get to know the respective movement sequence. For example, it can also be used for toboggan runs or downhill mountain biking. Want to know more? Contact us on hello@irewind.com.

More info can also be found in the Sunrise Spotlight article (German only).