MTBalance: Assisting Novice Mountain Bikers with Real-Time Proprioceptive Feedback
Journal article, 2021

Mountain Biking (MTB) is an increasingly popular outdoors activity which offers a unqiue connection to nature along with the health benefits of cardiovascular exercise. Yet, complex MTB technique is an entry barrier that often prevent novices from enjoying the sport. Developing interactive systems, which can support developing MTB proficiency can augment the outdoor experience and make the sport available to a larger group of users. To that end, we designed, implemented and evaluate MTBalance - a system which provides body posture feedback for beginner mountain bikers. Based on inertial tracking, MTBalance informs the user about how to correct their posture to improve MTB performance. We conducted a study in which we compared different feedback modalities for MTBalance. We observed that the system increased perceived balance awareness. Our work provides insights for designing body awareness systems for outdoor sports.

physical activity

hci for sports

proprioception

mountain biking

feedback

Author

Mark J. Berentsen

Utrecht University

Marit Bentvelzen

Utrecht University

Pawel W. Wozniak

Chalmers, Computer Science and Engineering (Chalmers), Interaction design

Utrecht University

Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction

25730142 (eISSN)

Vol. 5 ISS 3488551

Subject Categories

Interaction Technologies

Human Computer Interaction

Information Systemes, Social aspects

DOI

10.1145/3488551

More information

Latest update

11/24/2021