Bicycle Pedal Angle Measurements Using Model With Wireless Motion Sensors

Abstract

Recently, research has focused on the ankle joint and pedal angles. Therefore, we measured the change in pedal angle in the horizontal plane, revealing a difference in pedaling characteristics. In this study, a computational model was proposed to accurately measure the rotation angles of both bicycle pedals. The system consisted of three wireless motion sensors with biaxial acceleration and an angular velocity sensor attached to the crank arm and both pedals. The rotational pedal angles measured by the motion sensors were compared with data from a motion-capture system. The root-mean-square error for the bicycle pedal angle was 0.429 ± 0.138° (mean ± SD), and the correlation coefficient was 0.9996 for the combined pedals. Using the proposed computational model, both pedal angles were measured with the same accuracy as that of the motion-capture system but with a higher frequency.