Surfer and industrial design student Rob Renn has come up with a unique way to create new surfboards: using data logging on previous boards to build better ones in the future.

Renn strapped an Arduino Mini to one of his surfboards and and connected it to a network of sensors. These were housed in a waterproof pad before and the whole unit was sent out to sea.

Data on toe/heel weight distribution was collected on two different days. Despite the small sample size (cut short by the fear of destroying the electronics) and expectations of different values, the results collected were “really consistent” and could be used to create a new bespoke surfboard.

After running the data through the algorithmic modelling software Grasshopper, a new shape could be created in Rhinoceros. This was fed into a CNC machine which then milled the board from styrofoam blocks with manual alterations and finishes done by Renn.

The completed board – which you can see in the artsy header image above – isn’t a perfect product. “I think there is something there, though it is very much so a first attempt,” Renn said, “I know what changes need to be done to the next iteration.”

The holy grail for this project is to blend the two surfboard manufacturing processes together. The traditional hand crafted methods mixed with automated shaping which traditionally lacked the “energy and life” of the former.

[Source – Make: