CryptoPolyTech.com
Crypto, Politics, Tech, Gaming & World News.

Researchers reveal tip for riders of hoverboards

Our #TECH_Newser covers ‘news of the day’ #techNewserTechnology content.

Researchers reveal tip for riders of hoverboards

Originally reported on www.miragenews.com

Engineering researchers have some simple advice for people learning to ride hoverboards: it’s all in the ankles.

An experiment using sophisticated cameras and sensors attached to first-time riders revealed that ankle movements, not knee or hip movements, are the key to catching on to the increasingly popular devices.

“Those who learned faster and performed better had strongly adopted an ankle strategy, meaning that they controlled their ankle motion by activating or co-activating the muscles around them,” said Arash Arami, a professor of mechanical and mechatronics engineering at the University of Waterloo and senior author of a new study.

Hoverboards have a motor and two wheels connected by a platform. Riders steer and balance with their feet, although some models are self-balancing.

While new riders would be wise to concentrate on ankle movement, the study by researchers in Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan also showed the central nervous system somehow seems to just know the best strategy to use.

After a short familiarization session, volunteers were primarily relying on ankle movements within a few minutes of maneuvering hoverboards back and forth using three different foot positions.

“The process of learning how to ride a hoverboard is largely subconscious,” Arami said. “Interestingly enough, our central nervous system can usually figure it out without much instruction, so take it easy and enjoy the ride.”

Researchers theorize ankle movement is primarily used to learn to ride because they’re the joints closest to the board, primates generally learn better with their hands and feet, and the central nervous system often tries to minimize muscular effort.

The researchers used hoverboards as a tool to investigate how the c, including the neural networks in the brain and spinal cord, controls human movement.

The results have implications for the design of platforms for balance training for older adults at risk of falls and stroke survivors in rehabilitation clinics. They could also help with the design of hoverboards and similar devices, such as snowboards.

Researchers are ultimately interested in using technology to develop assistive and rehabilitative robotics systems to allow people with impairments to regain movement.

“Hoverboards, as simple as they appear, help us dig into how we control our lower limbs and deepen our understanding of human motor control,” Arami said.

Arami and Mohammad Shushtari, lead author and a PhD candidate at Waterloo, collaborated with engineers at NTT Communication Science Laboratories in Japan and the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in the UK.

A paper about their work, Balance strategy in hoverboard control, appears in the journal Scientific Reports.

/Public Release. This material from the originating organization/author(s) may be of a point-in-time nature, edited for clarity, style and length. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s).View in full here.


‘News of the Day’ content, as reported by public domain newswires.

Related Posts
Find more, like the above, right here on Cryptopolytech.com by following our extensive quiclick links appearing on images or within categories [NEWSer CHEWSer].

Source Information (if available)

It appears the above article may have originally appeared on www.miragenews.com and has been shared elsewhere on the internet, repeatedly. News articles have become eerily similar to manufacturer descriptions.

We will happily entertain any content removal requests, simply reach out to us. In the interim, please perform due diligence and place any content you deem “privileged” behind a subscription and/or paywall.

We compile ‘news of the day’ content in an unbiased manner and contextually classify it to promote the growth of knowledge by sharing it just like Researchers reveal tip for riders of hoverboards

First to share? If share image does not populate, please close the share box & re-open or reload page to load the image, Thanks!



You might also like