HMM based inertial sensor system for coaching of rowing activity

In this paper, a system of inertial sensors is presented for observing and analyzing the rowing technique of the athletes. Monitoring of the oarsman by coaches is a key element for improving the performance and technique, and health of the athlete. However, reliability of this type of observation is limited by human ability and availability, hence lacks a scientific standardization. Therefore, in order to improve the accuracy and quality of the feedback given by the coaches on the technique of the sportsman and maybe even to eliminate the necessity for a human trainer for good, a system supported by inertial sensors is offered. The prototype presented by this work promises to monitor and analyze the kinematics of major body parts during rowing. Data are collected from the inertial sensors placed on lower back, femur and forearm when either professional or amateur rowers are using ergometer. Due to its features of small size, lightweight, bluetooth connection, lowpower usage and integrated 3 axis accelerometer & 3 axis gyroscope, SHIMMER sensor nodes has been used during these sessions. After data have been extracted, they were processed and an HMM has been created using the correct rowing technique data. Then, the worse rowing cases were compared using the built HMM.