SonicSeat: design and evaluation of a seat position tracker based on ultrasonic sound measurements for rowing technique analysis

A significant number of rowers do not receive technical coaching. However, proper technique is a key component both for achieving competitive success and in preventing injuries or long-term induced postural deformity. In cooperation with national rowing coaches we developed a sensor system to continuously monitor rowers’ seat positions, enabling us to evaluate their rowing technique. We use offline data analysis, which complements existing state-of-the art methods based on video footage. Both quantitative analyses for coaches as well as qualitative and visual feedback for athletes is provided. We evaluated the accuracy of the SonicSeat system in a lab environment and obtained mean relative errors between 0.74 and 2.36 % for all but one of our performance metrics. We tested our system on the water and present exemplary data and analyses.