Over the years, the number of extreme adventure sports in India has been on the rise. However, the quality and safety of these places are under debate. Accidents and loss of life of the adventurers have raised more than questionable eyebrows on several occasions. 

In this scenario, ManaliSwing, an adventure startup based in Manali, came into being. They have introduced the world's first AI-powered Giant Swing.  

"Accidents are happening in bungee jumping, and paragliding where there are trained professionals to overlook", says Utsav Soni, Co-founder of ManaliSwing, in a conversation with INDIAai. "When an expert does something for ten years, there are chances that they might commit a mistake at least twice. And in these adventures, mistakes will lead to casualties and not accidents", he added.  

ManaliSwing will act as a milestone in the advent of AI in extreme adventure. It ensures the joint involvement of humans and machines where AI acts as a safety backup.  

Ensuring safety 

ManaliSwing follows international safety standards, guidelines and SOPs. But in case during the activity, the jump master commits an error, AI will cross-check the activity and forbid the jump. 

AI can track the participants' and the jump master's performance across millions of data. According to the ManaliSwing Co-founder and a trained extreme adventurer, having a brilliant AI is an ace for the jump master and his team. It will monitor from the participant's rope to the jump master's safety line. 

ManaliSwing currently has more than 95% accuracy in a closed environment and 80% in real-time. 

The team intend to train the model until complete reliability is attained. 

High quality  

ManaliSwing is a rope swing. This is the first time Via ferrata has been introduced in India. Via ferrata is a European mountain climbing system. The participant will Via ferrata till the jumping platform where the safety guidelines are followed. 

A camera constantly monitors the participants. In addition, there will be two jump masters to check the equipment. Finally, if all the parameters are satisfied, the AI will denote through a sensory light behind each participant, if the jump is safe. 

ManaliSwing is currently incubated by IIT Mandi and IIT Hyderabad.  

Team like family 

The ManaliSwing founders are a group of childhood friends and fellow travel enthusiasts. "From river rafting to high-altitude bungee jumping, we have been together”, says Utsav Soni. 

They are well-trained in extreme adventure and were disheartened by India's lack of adventure sports. "We speak about skydiving in Dubai and bungee jumping in New Zealand". This notion led to the formation of ManaliSwing. 

Their attempt is a quantum leap into technology. They sought help from companies such as Karam industries, who supported the team with state-of-the-art equipment. "They helped us without any profit because our success will create history", says Utsav.  

Currently, ManaliSwing has completed over 1000 dummy jumps at high altitudes. 

AI in extreme adventure sports 

In Utsav's opinion, the technology they are currently using can be "scaled and transformed" into most of the extreme adventure activities. 90% of the equipment used in various extreme adventure sports is the same. Only 10% varies with sports. "Our AI can be used for bungee jumping and paragliding", says Utsav. 

A GoPro can be connected anywhere during an adventure activity. Currently, the ManaliSwing team is working on building a GoPro that will scan and analyze the placement of the equipment before making the big jump.  

"This is something the world has never seen before, and it can transform the whole industry", remarked Utsav Soni.  

To ensure the world that the Manali Swing is safe, the team is planning to swing a car during their launch.