Project
| # | Title | Team Members | TA | Documents | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 52 | Digital Coaching for Figure Skating |
Ethan Yee Lionel Binder Stephanie Tancs |
Zhicong Fan | design_document3.pdf final_paper1.pdf photo1.png presentation1.pptx proposal2.pdf |
|
| # DIGITAL COACHING FOR FIGURE SKATING Team Members: - Stephanie Tancs (stancs2) - Lionel Binder (lbinder2) - Ethan Yee (ethanay2) # Problem Coaching for figure skating costs $50+ / 25 min of instruction. With the costs of ice time and skate maintenance outside of this, the cost of figure skating is significant if you are looking to improve your skills in any way. This makes it impossible for many who would like to improve or begin figure skating to do so based solely on cost. For two years of twice-weekly coaching, the cost would be $10,400 for coaching alone. # Solution With a system consisting of wearable electronics, a camera setup, and access to a computer, each ice rink could be equipped for digital coaching and encourage skaters to improve without needing to invest significant amounts of money into coaching. The system would function as the wearable electronics can record accelerations in 3 dimensions, and the software can synthesize this information and the input from the camera in order to create a model of the skater and compare it directly with an ideal model. This is so the skater can directly see what they are attempting and make specific changes to their motion in order to perfect their form. Furthermore, this solution would aid the coaching of those who have a different style of learning (visual, tactile) as opposed to auditory to understand the corrections made. # Solution Components ## IMU nodes We will manufacture multiple IMU nodes consisting of an accelerometer and gyroscope to be outfitted on an individual at important body joints. These nodes will be able to record acceleration data from the wearer and subsequently transmit through a wired connection to the master node that is collecting data. The IMUs make up one half of the wearable electronics. In order to attach these nodes to the skaters, we will CAD and 3D print a protective case, and pin the electronics onto the skater via a safety pin to ensure maintenance of a precise location. The node on the skate will be attached via a safety pin to a sleeve (commonly sold as a skate protector to freestyle skaters) that goes over the boot of the skate. ## Microcontroller We will also manufacture a custom microcontroller that serves as the master node for the wearable electronics system. This microcontroller will need to be wired to all of the IMU nodes in order to receive and aggregate the wearer’s acceleration data. It will also require a storage system, likely SD card, in order to later transfer the accumulated data to the software component of the project. We will power the entire wearable system through the microcontroller. We also want to keep in mind that we find compatible IMUs which operate on the same communication protocol as the microcontroller. The microcontroller makes up the second half of the wearable electronics. ## Camera and Software We will need to connect a camera to a computer in order to accomplish the computer vision aspect of this project. The camera will capture the motion of the skater as well as track the world position of the IMU nodes to provide visual data. This will be paired with the IMU data to generate a model of the skater’s movement as they execute skill moves. We can compare these models with “ideal” models based on skilled figure skaters to both quantify the difference between a performed move versus an “ideal” move and to provide visual feedback to the skater as to how they can improve their performance. We plan to use OpenCV or some similar library to accomplish this. # Criterion For Success This can be demonstrated in the UI Ice Arena with demonstrators from the club synchronized figure skating team. This demonstration can be easily video recorded and the data can be processed and the program can be run in class. Our high-level goals are as follows: - Design and build a wearable electronics system to measure the acceleration data of an ice skater performing the Biellmann (a skating skill in which the skater lifts the leg above their head and grabs onto the blade with their hands) - Utilizing camera input to align with acceleration data and create a full depiction of the skater in terms of kinematics - Use aggregated data to generate a visualization of the skater and quantify the difference between an “ideal” move versus the skater’s move |
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