Hyundai helps South Korea’s famed archers hit the target with Artec Spider II

Inozard’s Sales & Marketing Manager Danny Ahn 3D scanning the bow with Spider II. Image courtesy of Inozard

In the modern world, South Korea is perhaps best known for its high-tech cities, booming pop scene, and iconic TV shows & movies – which are increasingly capturing an international audience. But the country also has a fascinating past rooted in centuries-old traditions, many of which continue to be observed, and traditional sports like archery are still highly popular.

Archery is actually deeply rooted in Korean culture. Known as gungdo (궁도) or gungsul (궁술), the discipline was central to the culture behind the still-idealized Hwarang (화랑), or ‘the Flower Knights’ of the 7th century. Since the sport was reintroduced to Korea in 1959, it has recaptured the public’s imagination, and its fiercely competitive archery scene continues to flourish.

When you consider that archers have to hit a palm-sized target from a range of 70 meters, it’s clear why the sport is so well respected there. Concentration and discipline are key. Competitors also rely heavily on their equipment, archery grips in particular. These (often temporary) devices help archers position their hands comfortably, consistently, and with a high degree of control.

However, in a sport of fine margins, their deviation and lack of durability add an unknown factor into the mix, with the potential to destabilize hot-shot archers. That’s why Hyundai, a long-time backer of Korean archery, reached out to trusted Artec 3D reseller Inozard. Together, they now create custom grips for the country’s best, with the help of Artec Spider II 3D scanning.

Digitizing bows for the perfect fit

Hyundai is renowned for its automotive expertise, but the firm actually operates in many other areas, including heavy industry and the maritime sector. This is where Inozard began working with the company – in the development of boat parts. Once Hyundai had seen the team in-action, it also asked them to take a look at the grips its archers were using in competition.

3D mesh of the digitized bow inside Artec Studio. Image courtesy of Inozard

Many athletes were relying on rudimentary tape, which led to inconsistent levels of grip. Tape also wears away quickly, requires replacement, and doesn’t allow for much customization.

To help these archers maximize their performance, Inozard began working on a tailored alternative – which would be built around digital twins of their individual bows. According to Danny Ahn, Sales and Marketing Manager at Inozard, the wireless, AI-powered Artec Leo would have done the job, but they used the new Spider II instead to capture with peak accuracy and resolution.

Naturally, bows feature narrow geometries and dark, slightly shiny surfaces. Ordinarily, this would require the use of scanning spray, but not with Spider II. The blue light-powered device allowed for the fast, seamless capture of even the finest details, providing Inozard with the 3D surface data needed for building off and creating highly customized archery equipment.

“I once believed that tripod-mounted structured-light scanners were the best in the world. But now I’ve changed my mind,” explained Ahn. “Spider II is easy to use, portable, handheld, and the tracking is so much better than the original Space Spider. What can I say? It’s so smooth, it scans perfectly, and the accuracy is just great.”

Designing & 3D printing custom grips

Inozard’s workflow began with the unscrewing of athletes’ regular grips. These devices were then 3D scanned alongside the bows themselves and reverse engineered. In practice, this meant processing captured data inside Artec Studio, a software packed with all the essentials for alignment, fusion, outlier removal, and decimation – in order to reduce file size.

A fully textured version of the bow, captured with the Spider II 3D scanner. Image courtesy of Inozard

Seamless integration with Geomagic Design X then made it easy to import models and use these as a basis for designing grips that slotted perfectly onto athletes’ bows. Ensuring a perfect fit meant prototyping the devices. To accelerate this process, Inozard opted to iterate upon each design using SLS 3D printing – a technology known for delivering high-durability parts.

Overall, this approach allowed its team to capture and process data in just an hour or two, with final grip designs being ready for 3D printing after a couple of days. Using these devices, which are customized to suit archers’ specific needs, Hyundai athletes are now able to compete with improved ergonomics and change things up as they see fit for enhanced results.

“There are lots of customization options, we reverse engineer based on tape surface, modify the grip to athletes’ individual contours, and then we test print it out,” added Ahn. “We can customize it again and again – as we’re a 3D printing company, we can make a lot of them at one time. Actually, each athlete has 6-10 grips. They’re durable but still as time passes, it can start to feel different. Now, they can quickly change it for a new one.”

Expanding into new disciplines

Now used in international archery competitions around the world, these custom grips are expected to be the first of many. Inozard recently exhibited at an archery exhibition, where numerous other athletes and college students showed an interest in its technology.

Whether it be in tennis, badminton, or any other strapping-reliant sport, Inozard sees significant potential for further applications, especially given its proven cost & lead time benefits.

Inozard also captured a less detailed model of the bow using Artec Leo to showcase the wireless 3D scanner’s versatility. Image courtesy of Inozard

“The price is not very high – after you scan once, you can use the model all the time to create many grips, or other parts,” concluded Ahn. “Generally, I think the price will be competitive in this market. I also think it’s possible to establish a 3D scanning or processing service for this application in future. We’re seeing huge demand from this kind of athlete.”

To this day, Korean archers continue to compete for top honors in both the men’s and women’s disciplines. Inozard’s team are hugely proud to have helped the country keep its tradition alive, and they’re hoping the project serves as a proof of concept for future athletic ventures.