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Download fileA novel, real-time biomechanical feedback system for use in rowing
conference contribution
posted on 2014-10-13, 14:37 authored by Philip Harfield, Ben Halkon, Sean MitchellSean Mitchell, Iain PhillipsIain Phillips, Andrew MayAndrew MayBiomechanical feedback in water-based rowing is traditionally presented as paper reports or video overlaid with data once a session has been completed. Research into the provision of extrinsic feedback in sport suggests that real-time feedback can lead to skill acquisition and, when appropriately applied, lead to skill retention during competition and therefore a positive performance outcome. This paper presents a novel system architecture that delivers real-time feedback using commercially available off-the-shelf components. The development of a rowing specific system to test a range of feedback strategies is presented, including fading feedback, mixing feedback modalities and varying of the frequency and timing of feedback. MoSync, a cross-platform smartphone development language, was used to write the client application while the server was written as an embedded application in C and Lua that ran on top of the OpenWrt open-source router operating system. Data was transmitted wirelessly across a Wi-Fi network. A human-centred design process was led by a group of highperformance athletes and coaches and the system was shown to deliver data to up to 10 clients simultaneously. Future research will investigate the efficacy of a variety of different feedback strategies to rowers. © 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Funding
The authors would like to recognise the support of the EPSRC and of the Great Britain Rowing Team.
History
School
- Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering