ARX transforms exercise into a fun, immersive game

An Auckland fitness tech start-up is focussed on creating a new approach to circuit training and bodyweight exercises at gyms around New Zealand and overseas.

ARX (Augmented Reality Exercise), based in the ATEED-managed AR/VR Garage in Eden Terrace, has launched its game that makes squats, press-ups and doing high-knees fun and engaging. It is the first augmented reality product for the fitness industry focusing on interval bodyweight training.

“We want to be the pioneers in the future of exercise technology and true gamification of boring, conventional exercise,” says ARX co-founder, Chentur Thambiah. “We will appeal to the Millennials and others who have not been regular gym-goers but enjoy the (augmented reality) experience while exercising.”

Thambiah has introduced the ARX game within Club Physical in Birkenhead where he is based as a licenced personal trainer. Other gyms and personal trainers are also trialling this package.

He wants ARX to become “a staple group class in every gym in New Zealand’’ like other programmes such Zumba, Crossfit and Spin Class. ARX plans to develop a mobile app in 2018, and it wants to become the leading provider of augmented reality software for fitness applications globally.

The ARX experience involves a three-minute burst of exercise, which is structured around conventional interval training. Wearing augmented reality headsets (Epson Moverio), the exercisers are transported into a 360 degree room where interactions in game are made through completing exercise repetitions.

Thambiah says “you fire a canon as you squat or press-up and hit as many fruit as you can. This requires some co-ordination while you are exercising. You focus on getting as many points as you can while being immersed into the game, and this tells you your level of fitness and measures progress over a period of time.

The AR/VR Garage has provided opportunities for ARX. We can collaborate and make connections, and the invitation to attend the Viva Tech would not have happened if we weren’t at The Garage.

Chentur Thambiah,
ARX Business Development Manager

“We want to integrate the technology with Facebook (and other social media), where the exercisers can share their results and challenge their friends to beat their high score. We want to transform exercise into a fun game.”

ARX was established by Thambiah and Eyemobi game developer Joe Chang after they met at Club Physical in Birkenhead through personal training. “Pokemon GO was all the rage at the time and we started talking and developing ideas about applying augmented reality to exercise,” says Chang.

Thambiah says the turning point came when “we were shortlisted for the Flux Accelerator programme (10 businesses out of 250 that applied). We missed out on the final three but it gave us the confidence to feel we were onto something. We created a business plan and a MVP (minimum viable product).”

ARX, with the support of Callaghan Innovation and the hosts Publicis Groupe and Les Echos Groupe, exhibited at the Viva Tech in Paris in June 2017 – a three day event that brings together the world’s leaders in technology and business with the most promising start-ups and disruptors of tomorrow.

The event attracted 68,000 visitors, 6000 start-ups and 1400 venture capitalists. ARX gained prominence by making a five-minute pitch on the Arena Stage, and the presentation was recorded on YouTube.

“There wasn’t anyone at Viva Tech doing the same thing as us – there was a niche that we can tackle,’’ says Thambiah. `We were approached by businesses wanting to use the technology and forming potential partnerships. As we grow customers, we will look at the latest advances in AR headsets and glasses.”

Once initial commercialisation is complete, ARX would like to link up with a large gym franchise such as Les Mills International or Fitness First to work together and design an augmented reality group class ready for global reach and distribution.

Thambiah says the move to The AR/VR Garage has provided opportunities for ARX. “The Garage has demo days and we can network with investors. We can collaborate and make connections, and the invitation to attend the Viva Tech would not have happened if we weren’t at The Garage.”