Supportive Training System for Sports Skill Acquisition Based on Electrical Stimulation

A supporting training system using a haptic device is considered to contribute more to motion learning than other stimuli that stimulate the human somatosensory system. However, the apparatus required for haptic stimulation is large, although the output is small. Electrical stimulation has been gaining attention in the field of human interfaces in recent years as a potential solution to this problem. Electrical stimulation is superior to existing haptic interfaces in that a large output can be generated using a few batteries, which can drive muscles to contract. Therefore, in this study, we developed a training system using electrical stimulation. This system teaches the rotation of arms, which is difficult to achieve by means of other haptic stimuli. We confirmed that the form in the rotation direction was successfully modified by using this system. The form was improved by 32% through electrical stimulation during training, and the form correction was achieved via the somatosensory system, which is difficult with the existing method. In addition, we verified that the skill was memorized in a short period of time and retained in the short term.