Control of a whole-body task with uncertain initial conditions: Application to the upstart on bars

The aim was to determine whether operating a feedforward schema for generating movement pattern parameters was more successful than an open loop strategy for coping with uncertain initial conditions. A computer simulation model was used to determine the optimal solutions that maximised the likelihood of performing a successful upstart. Feedforward schema were established between movement pattern parameters and initial angular velocity. The success of modifying a pre-planned movement pattern based on the parameter relationships (feedforward) was compared with optimal solutions unable to adapt (open loop) to initial angular velocity. The open loop solution was successful 28% and 20% of the time for a full strength (elite) and weaker gymnast. The feedforward strategy had success rates of 99% and 96% respectively.