Cambridge student breaks World Record for juggling on a unicycle
He juggled seven balls for 16.77 seconds!
Last updated 27th Jun 2023
A Cambridge University student has set a new world record for juggling on a unicycle - using his engineering knowledge to hone his skills.
Engineering PhD student James Cozens achieved the Guinness World Record for "most objects juggled while riding a unicycle" - juggling seven balls for 16.77 seconds at Cambridge's Selwyn College on May 7.
Participants must juggle for a minimum of 10 seconds for a successful attempt.
The record was achieved Selwyn, where he studies and practices.
Two timekeepers, two independent witnesses and the feat verified via the Guinness World Records website.
Mr Cozens improved his technique by developing a performance analysis software,
It shows tracking, visualisation and simulation of "siteswap" routines - siteswaps are sequences of numbers representing the relative duration of throws in a juggling pattern.
Mr Cozens, who's from Gerrards Cross in Buckinghamshire, said "the technical approach has really helped".
He added: "Having this academic background means I can develop the software and see where my technique needs to improve, increase my efficiency, and it's been a lot of fun."
His undergraduate degree was in information and computer engineering, and he said that "a lot of the algorithms and techniques learnt in that were used directly in the software".
"My PhD is in statistical signal processing, machine learning, so basically artificial intelligence," he added.
"One side is in generative music, the other is multi-object tracking, which you can imagine is very useful for this kind of juggling software."
Mr Coven took up juggling during his first-year exams "as a stress relief and also as a great break from the academic grind".
"Then Covid happened, there was a bit more free time and a lot of time to learn new tricks and so on, just a lot of fun," he said.
The software has now been integrated into his PhD work and was first tested at the 2022 European Juggling Convention.