EMStriker: Potentials of Enhancing the Training Process of Racket-based Sports via Electrical Muscle Stimulation

Abstract

Racket sports offer an enjoyable form of physical activity and are fertile ground for interactive technologies supporting new players. Yet, current research has neglected its potential to support not only active players but also coaches in their training methods. To investigate how interactive technologies can support skill acquisition in training, we designed an Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS) system that helps maintain the ready position in crossminton. We compared the system with a vibrotactile solution in a user study, interviewing novice players and experienced coaches about their perception of the system. The system allowed coaches to effectively and immediately guide players to the ready position. An EMS-based feedback system for coaches can potentially reduce delay (physical and cognitive) for trainees, as stated by coaches. Our work contributes insights into designing systems that facilitate learning sports techniques using interactive feedback. Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the owner/author(s). TEI ’22, February 13–16, 2022, Daejeon, Republic of Korea © 2022 Copyright held by the owner/author(s). ACM ISBN 978-1-4503-9147-4/22/02. https://doi.org/10.1145/3490149.3505578