Preliminary evaluation of timing training accelerator for the SPRINT rowing system

Alessandro Filippeschi^*, Emanuele Ruffaldi^* and Maria Korman^†

^(*) Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, TECIP, Pisa, Italy
^(†) Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
E-mail: a.filippeschi@sssup.it, e.ruffaldi@sssup.it

Abstract

This paper shows the selection and preliminary evaluation of rowing gesture timing training on the SPRINT platform. After the analysis of experts’ gestures and a literature review of rowing technique features, the selection of proper feedbacks and the development of the training protocol are investigated. The general problem discussed here is the learning of timing of complex motor pattern under the effect of load. Eight novice adults participated the experiment, half of them receiving vibrotactile feedback (VIB), both receiving knowledge of results (KR) after training blocks. Preliminary results show the difficulty people had to accomplish the task and to exploit feedback. There is in fact no evidence of feedback effectiveness when comparing VIB-KR and KR group. Some causes were hypothesized and a side effect of load condition arisen from data. Therefore timing training will be further investigated exploiting information gathered.