Ring-Shaped Force Platform for Developing Instrumented Throwing and Shifting Forces Due to Rotation Analysis

Abstract

This paper presents further development and utilization of force platforms to evaluate and analysis of forces obtained due to rotation movements of sport activities using Labview software. The platform was designed with ring-shaped to provide and simulate the required space of rotation for testing these activities. The proposed force platform was fabricated with 2.5 m diameter and calibrated with standard force platforms to provide the required measurement sensitivity and accuracy. The data acquisition and Labview software were developed to perform different mathematical calculations. The obtained experimental tests results for different throwing sport activities showed good convergence to analyse athletes performances. Although the proposed force platform was initially employed to measure and analyse force due to rotation, it can be employed to measure other parameters related to athletes performances including torque, acceleration, displacement and moment based on computer vision tracking system. In comparison with the existing platforms, the fabricated platform has features of collecting a large variety of data with high quality for analysis and decision-making of athletes performances performing rotation movements.