U.S. Speed-Skating Gear Gets High-Tech Upgrade for Olympics

The U.SOlympic speed-skating team will be sporting some upgraded suits, as they race around the ice rink in Sochi this Saturday.

Using motion-capture technology, Under Armour teamed up with Lockheed Martin, an American aerospace and defense firm, to create better suits for the speed-skating team, according to New Scientist.

Harnessing the same technology used to create artificial characters in movies such as Avatar, the team recorded the athletes, as they raced around the ice rink. They then built fiberglass mannequins in various skating poses based on the recordings. After dressing the mannequins in hundreds of different suits made out of various materials, the team placed them in a wind tunnel, and examined how different designs and materials affected the suits in the high-speed winds. Read more...