Student startups - Belay AI
Student startups - Belay AI
“Climbing is all about human movement.” For Jorge Eduardo Hermoso Valle, climbing is much more. It is a way to find yourself as well as challenging yourself. He is the owner and creator of Belay AI, a product which evaluates climbers and helps them further develop their climbing skills. Tuntreet talked with him about his company and got to see some climbing as well.
Journalist: Danique Wijnia
Photographer: Tuva Hebnes
What is Belay AI?
Belay AI stands for Biometric Evaluation and Learning Analytics for You powered by Artificial Intelligence. In a nutshell, it supports you in your climb by analyzing your moves and helping you improve your climbing. The term “belay” is also a climbing term referring to securing a rope by wrapping it around a device, providing support to the climber in their climb. A closer look at the name reveals the essence of what Belay AI does. The biometrics recognize and measure the human body while one is climbing, leading to an evaluation and analysis of the way in which the climber moves. This in turn aids the learning process of Belay AI, the more climbers engage with the product, the more the system learns, which will lead to the product providing climbers with better feedback. Thus, by analyzing the movements and techniques of many climbers Belay AI transforms this into actionable data, which can help a climber (you) improve your climbs.
The product is easy to use, all the climber needs is to have a phone with a camera and film themselves climbing, which will lead to an analysis of your climbing and feedback to improve your climbing. It is accessible for everyone: beginners, intermediates, professionals, and coaches of climbers.
The journey
The idea of Belay AI was developed when Jorge needed a topic for his master’s thesis. He tried to combine something that he liked – climbing – with data science and machine learning. After finishing his master thesis, he was offered an industrial PhD spot, which would have been a relatively safe option to choose, since it was a paid position which included a visa to stay in Norway.
A possible negative effect of taking the position could be that the ownership of his idea might be compromised, he would risk losing 66% of the ownership. Thus, after much consideration, Jorge instead chose not to take the position and focused on further developing his idea from his master thesis project and started developing his company.
This, however, was a very risky move since Jorge had no funds and no assured visa for the future. The first issue was to be solved by Innovation Norway, who granted him a one million kroner fund to further develop his company. The whole application process was complex and took multiple months to complete.
The first hurdle in this process was that Jorge initially did not plan on applying for the funds from Innovation Norway, thinking that it would be a distraction away from product development. After much help and persistence from Eva from Startupsmia, he applied for the funds. However, the funds and the visa were connected, to receive the funds Jorge needed a skilled worker visa and for this specific visa he needed to have the funds. This was sorted out by Jorge hiring himself in his company, which looked a bit sketchy when he showed up to the immigration office. After much back and forth with the immigration office and writing out his statement, he received the visa and could receive the funds. Today, the company is advancing faster than ever. Jorge even brought on his former engineering professor as a full-time team member. Working alongside someone he admired during his studies is an incredible opportunity and a valuable addition to the project.
Collaborations
Belay AI has collaborated with both Magnus Midtbø – a well-known Norwegian climber – and the Norwegian national climbing team. Jorge first connected with Magnus by asking for five minutes of his time to explain his product. He had been working at Magnus’ climbing center, first as a cleaner and later as a climbing instructor for children. The five-minute conversation turned into a one-hour conversation and eventually led to collaborating for a YouTube video. After this collaboration, people in the climbing community started to become interested in the product, which led to the collaboration with the Norwegian national climbing team. From this the product could also be improved and Jorge could learn from how the national team utilized his product. In turn, this led to interviews with newspapers. Overall, quite a bit of free marketing for Belay AI. In addition, the feedback that Jorge received from these collaborations also gave him new perspectives on the product, which are always valuable. Furthermore, Jorge states that “collaborating with highly skilled and inspirational people, such as athletes, coaches, business developers, and former professors, is one of the great things about working with Belay AI.”
The future
As for plans for the future of the company, Jorge is thinking about branching out to other sports. He has no specifics yet, but the company could work with any sport. In addition, the company might also look into developments in accident recognition, physiotherapy, and posture improvement. Since this is a growing field, there are countless possibilities. As for Jorge’s personal development, he enjoys further developing the product, which pushes him to develop himself. However, he hopes to find more time to spend with friends and family and to enjoy nature. Having one’s own company is hard work but it is also rewarding to see ideas develop and enact positive change.
