Equestrian performance sensing system

• US 9,159,245 B2
• Filed: 04/23/2012
• Issued: 10/13/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SARCOS LC (Sarcos Technology & Robotics Corp.)
• Original Assignee: SARCOS LC (Sarcos Technology & Robotics Corp.)
• Inventors: Smith, Fraser M., Olivier, Marc X.
• Primary Examiner(s): Utama, Robert J
• Assistant Examiner(s): Zaman, Sadaruz
• Application Number:
  US13/453,908
• Publication Number:
  US 20130280683A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,268 Days
• Field of Search: 434/247
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 15/027 Exercising equipment, e.g. tread mills, carousels equipment for racing or riding sports events A63K
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 29/005 Monitoring or measuring activity, e.g. detecting heat or mating
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 69/00 Training appliances or apparatus for special sports training of parachutists B64D23/00
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/0038 Sports
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/00 Electrically-operated educational appliances working with questions and answers G09B7/00; simulators G09B9/00; advertising or displaying in general G09F

Abstract

Systems, devices, and methods for gathering data from a horse and rider and providing training to the rider are provided. In one aspect, for example, a method of training an equestrian rider can include performing a ride by an equestrian rider on a horse, and obtaining ride data from the ride, the ride data including video, inertial measurements, rider joint, head, torso, and/or limb information, horse joint, head, torso, and/or limb information, and at least one force measurement between the horse and the rider during the rider. The ride data can then be analyzed and at least one riding improvement to be made by the rider can be identified, and the at least one riding improvement to be made to the rider can be relayed to the rider to provide training for a subsequent ride.

Claims

1. A closed loop system for training an equestrian rider, comprising:

a plurality of rider position sensors operable for attachment to a rider in locations that provide a plurality of rider joint, head, torso, and limb position information;

a plurality of horse position sensors operable for attachment to a horse in locations that provide a plurality of horse joint, head, torso, and limb position information;

a plurality of video cameras operable to be spaced apart from the horse and the rider, the plurality of video cameras operable to be time-synced and positioned to capture video of the horse and rider from a plurality of viewing directions;

at least one force sensor operable to be functionally coupled between the horse and the rider;

a plurality of inertial measurement units operable to couple to at least one of the horse or the rider;

a data acquisition system operable to collect and store data from the rider position sensors, the horse position sensors, the at least one force sensor, and the inertial measurement units;

a data display system operable to display the data collected from the data acquisition system; and

a training system operable to train the equestrian rider based on the data collected from the data acquisition system and displayed on the data display system.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the data acquisition system is further operable to collect and store video data from the video cameras.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one physiological sensor operable for attachment to at least one of the rider or the horse capable of detecting a level of stress.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a rider perspective video camera operable to couple to the rider.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a location tracking system operable to couple to at least one of the rider or the horse.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the location tracking system comprises, at least in part, an emitter and a detector for detecting one or more signals emitted by the emitter, wherein the emitter is operable to couple to at least one of the rider or the horse.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the location tracking system can include a member selected from the group consisting of a GPS tracking system, an RFtag tracking system, an optical tracking system, an ultrasonic tracking system, an acoustic tracking system, an object recognition tracking system, or a combination thereof.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one force sensor includes a force sensor selected from the group consisting of a rein sensor operable to measure rein force applied between the horse and the rider, a stirrup sensor operable to measure stirrup force applied between the horse and the rider, a saddle sensor operable to measure saddle force applied between the horse and the rider, one or more rider'"'"'s leg sensors operable to measure a force exerted by the rider'"'"'s legs against the horse, or a combination thereof.

9. A closed loop system for training an equestrian rider, comprising:

a plurality of rider position sensors operable for attachment to a rider in locations that provide a plurality of rider joint, head, torso, and limb position information;

a plurality of horse position sensors operable for attachment to a horse in locations that provide a plurality of horse joint, head, torso, and limb position information;

at least one force sensor operable to be functionally coupled between the horse and the rider;

a plurality of inertial measurement units operable to couple to at least one of the horse or the rider;

a data acquisition system operable to collect data from the rider position sensors, the horse position sensors, the at least one force sensor, and the inertial measurement units; and

a training system operable to provide training to the equestrian rider by providing sensory feedback to the equestrian rider based on the data collected from the data acquisition system.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein providing training to the equestrian rider further includes:

determining a ride performance parameter from at least a portion of the data collected from the data acquisition system;

comparing the ride performance parameter to a desired ride performance parameter to determine a performance discrepancy; and

providing the sensory feedback to the equestrian rider to inform of the performance discrepancy.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the sensory feedback includes a sensory modality selected from the group consisting of acoustic stimuli, vibratory stimuli, visual stimuli, and combinations thereof.