(February 19, 2016) Cluster
of Excellence CITEC is developing a system to support athletes and patients in
physical rehabilitation
A new system in a virtual training room is helping users
practice and improve sports exercises and other motor activities: six research
groups from the Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC)
at Bielefeld University are working on the ICSPACE project to develop this
virtual coaching space. CITEC is funding this large-scale research project with
1.6 million Euro and it will run until 2017. During a project presentation the
researchers showcased what their system is capable of. Using the example of a
squat exercise, they presented the new technology, which will help not only
athletes, but also physical rehabilitation patients learn movement exercises
and correct their mistakes. In a new “research_TV” report from Bielefeld
University, the coordinators of the project also explain how their new system
works.
CITEC creates new technologies that provide people with
intuitive assistance. In order to investigate how such assistance could work
when it comes to learning and coaching physical exercises, researchers at the
Cluster of Excellence CITEC developed the intelligent coaching space (ICSPACE)
system. Here, the researchers are using a construction with two projection
walls (front and floor) to simulate a computer-generated virtual
environment. Participants wear a pair of
stereoscopic glasses, similar to 3-D glasses worn at the movie theater. The
main difference here is that the image is precisely adjusted based on the
position and viewing direction of the user, which creates the impression of
really being in the gym and the coach standing right in front of you. Each test
subject is outfitted with reflective markers that are tracked by infrared
cameras. This allows the system to precisely track the person’s movements.