PRE2024 3 Group4

max van aken

Bram van der pas

Jarno peters

Simon B. Wessel

Javier Basterreche Blasco

Matei Manaila

Problem statement and objective

The problem this group wants to tacke is that many swimmers have flaws in their swimming technique, while the quality and quantity of trainers is declining in many amateur clubs. To solve the problem we want to create a swimsuit with sensors that track the position and orientation of the limbs of swimmers. The suit should then be able to give feedback based on the data the sensors aqcuire.

The users

people who swim for sport (as amateurs, professionals generally have a lot of good coaches) and wish to improve their technique (pretty much all of them).

Requirements

The suit should not be too heavy or inhibit motion too much, as the swimmers should be able to swim as normal while the suit is measuring. It should also be a one size fits all solution, as this means swimming clubs have to purchase less suits.

Approach

Preferrably we would like to do this using sensors on the suit, as this means that all of the technology would be on the suit, meaning no external infrastructure is required in the swimming pool. The sensors would be placed on top of or near joints in the body, such as the shoulder, elbow and wrist for arms, and the hips, knees and ankles for legs. Distances between joints would be determined using supersonic sensors and orientation would be determined by having gyrosensors at each joint location. With this approach, reference sensors would be required at the base of each arm or leg so the relative position data from the joints can be converted into more absolute data that is more useful.

If the sensor idea turns out to be impossible to implement during this course, the alternative would be the principles of a motion capture suit, where bright white balls are placed on a black suit and their position is determined using 2 cameras. One camera would view from the side in this case, while another would view from above. Based on this data, the same feedback can be constructed as with the sensor principle, but this would require 2 cameras on rails to be installed in the swimming pool, and these cameras would need to follow the suit around. This would possibly make the suit more expensive, as these rails would need to be either 25 or 50 meters long, depending on the swimming pool. This would also be less practical to implement for amateur clubs, as the pools they use would need to agree with installing said rails.

Milestones and deliverables

Due to the time frame and the scope of the course, a full body suit is likely not feasible. To be able to have something to show at the end of the course, a prototype will be built for one arm.