Applications

Applications will be developed in two areas of interest: (1) sport, and (2) performing arts (RQ4, RO3):

1. A common challenge for sport coaches is to search for the most suitable modalities to convey effective augmented information that can assist athletes to attain the most proficient performance. Furthermore, self-coaching in sport is a growing practice where the performer may benefit from receiving continuous information about the “trace” of the ongoing performance, to facilitate the process of sport-specific skill acquisition. The trajectory models will be tested in sport-specific contexts where the outcome depends on both skillful execution and trajectory prediction (e.g. basketball throws, volleyball serves, gymnastics, soccer kicks). Two perspectives will be considered: (i) As soon as the participant initiates the trajectory of a sport-specific skill, the model-based trajectory projection will provide simultaneous sensory mapping of the kinematic features through different sensory modalities. The performance enhancement will be measured; (ii) The trajectory features of a sport skill performance from an external executor will be projected, based on the predicting models, to an observer, using one or more sensory channels, at different scales. The increase in likelihood of the predicted outcome will be measured. Participants and athletes with different levels of expertise, including sensory-impaired persons, will be recruited to evaluate the effectiveness of multisensory and multiscale trajectory projection in different phases of the motor learning process.

2. Proofs-of-concept will be developed that exploit the automated measuring of bodily expression in dance, to drive multisensory trajectory continuation and projection. Participatory design of dance augmentation systems will involve both expert performing artists and participants with special needs, such as the elderly. The expectation is that visual, auditory, and tactile augmentation of social dance moves will amplify emotional communication and empathy in joint actions, ultimately enabling non-dancers and sensory-impaired persons to become more confident and self-aware in collective performance. The starting point will be the typical exercises used to increase the cohesion of a group of dancers before a joint dance performance, where individuals move as celestial bodies bound together by restoring forces, occasionally hooking in couples or assuming leadership as individuals. The effectiveness of multisensory trajectory projection will be evaluated by objective and subjective measurements of qualities such as leader-follower effectiveness, group entrainment, and contagion.