Wired Magazine: Exciting new technologies of the Olympics–Rapidblocs

The Olympic Delivery Authority — the folks responsible for developing and building Olympic venues — gave Shipley’s team a concept. The design requirements state the channel be an average of 1.4 meters deep, though it can vary from 40 cm to 2 meters, and a 5.5-meter drop. Once they designed a course that met those parameters, S20Design created an obstacle system in which all the boulders in the channel can be easily moved to change the behavior of the course and make the water rougher or smoother. The system, called Rapid Blocs, uses stackable blocks on rails.

http://www.wired.com/playbook/2012/07/olympic-tech-canoe-kayak/