sports coaches

Abstract: Experts can master fine hand-object manipulation skills, yet limited conscious perception of rapid tactile interactions hinders their ability to articulate the underlying control mechanisms. Badminton racket control requires rapid, fine hand-force coordination, providing a demanding testbed for uncovering these mechanisms. An 864-node tactile-inertial glove with synchronized 100-Hz acquisition recorded over 14,000 strokes from more than 70 participants across five skills. Inspired by sensorimotor control, our mechanics-grounded two-layer framework inferred object-driving and grip-stabilizing control from tactile history, while resolving their spatiotemporal force realization. We found that higher proficiency was associated with selective rather than extensive control: greater skill specificity, anticipatory regulation, focal distal modulation and lower geometric torque cancellation, while spatiotemporal coordination showed a non-monotonic acquire-refine pattern. We translated these mechanisms into personalized guidance targeting force control and force-motion coordination. In a randomized cohort, mechanism-guided learners gained 0.72 expert-rated skill levels versus 0.05 with level-only feedback, making control mechanisms actionable.

Abstract: Recognizing technical errors in movement is a perceptual skill important to motor learning, but it is challenging for beginners in fast, complex sports like fencing to develop it. A coach's attention is scarce, live demonstrations vary from repetition to repetition, and video review is limited to whatever camera angle was used to record it. Coaches and advanced fencers reviewing a recording face a related problem. They can see an error, but have no way to anchor their feedback to the movement itself, and are left describing it in words the learner must map back onto their own body. We present FenceXR, an augmented reality system that reconstructs 3D movement replays from monocular smartphone video to address both problems. A Trainee module trains novices to detect common lunge errors while a Reviewer module lets coaches and advanced fencers attach text or voice annotations to a specific joint and moment in a replay, which can be shared asynchronously with a trainee. In a study with 18 novice fencers, unaided error-detection accuracy rose from near-chance (37.5%) before training to 64.1% after a single session, with interviews showing a shift from broad visual scanning toward targeted inspection of specific joints and their timing. In a video-based study with four fencing experts, all four viewed the Reviewer module as a valuable complement to their existing coaching tools, particularly for feedback that is difficult to convey through standard video. We end with a discussion of implications for designing AR systems that ground movement-based training and feedback in the movement itself.