Design and implementation of real-time rowing simulator (ReTRoS) for high-performance and low-injury — A preliminary work

摘要

In sports, injury is inevitable, whilst high performance is our vision. This study presents the design and implementation of high-performance low-injury real-time rowing simulator. The proposed simulator is built based on the weaknesses appear with the current training system using ergometer machine that only focuses towards high-performance. In this simulator, three (3) parts have been integrated - input, process and output. Two (2) accelerometers (for rib back and knee) and flexible sensors (for both elbows) were placed on the rower's body as an input for data acquisition. These data were then being processed by an embedded hardware device National Instrument (NI) MyRIO that has been programmed and results obtained were displayed via liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor. Graphical user interface (GUI) of the simulator has been designed using graphical code (G-code) using LabVIEW software and data for the simulation were also available either in txt and xlsx formats. Results obtained have shown promising results since all data can be visualised and monitored in real-time, profiling and history of the training can be retrieved and with the bench mark data, injury can be also minimised.