Backyard Obstacle Course

Backyard Obstacle Course Structure

As a gym enthusiast needing a way to stay active during quarantine, I designed and built a backyard obstacle course inspired by American Ninja Warrior. The structure included a salmon ladder, monkey bars, a cliffhanger obstacle, and more.

Skills Strengthened:

  • CAD Modeling (Autodesk Inventor)
  • Using Power Tools
  • Material Sourcing

Design

I began with selecting my favorite obstacles from the official competition. With the dimensions provided from the show, I combined the obstacles into one standalone structure using Autodesk Inventor, improving on my CAD experience from high school. The frame beams were oversized to ensure safety, and standard sizes of pressure-treated lumber and outdoor rated bolts were used to make material sourcing easy.

Obstacle Course CAD Model
Obstacle Course Fabrication Detail 1
Obstacle Course Fabrication Detail 2

Fabrication

Over the course of a month, I built the obstacles in my backyard. This gave me valuable experience with power tools, such as a miter saw. I very much enjoyed this process gaining hands-on experience in translating a digital design to a real-world, full-scale fabrication. And with how difficult successfully completing the obstacles has been, this project has provided growth in many ways over the past 5 years.