Intelligent Yoga Training System

Regular exercise is especially important for living well with disabilities and aging. People who are blind or have low vision often face difficulties related to physical exercise due to barriers such as inaccessibility or fear of health-threatening injuries. As the global impact of COVID-19 intensifies and coping stress escalates, the importance and awareness of remote access to physical exercise and rehabilitation have also increased. Yoga provides physical benefits, such as strengthening muscles and increasing postural balance abilities, as well as mental benefits, like easing stress and anxiety. However, learning yoga conventionally requires observational learning and balance training, which are challenging for the visually impaired population, and often restrict them from receiving the benefits which yoga provides. Additional guidance to compensate for impaired vision can enable this population to learn and practice yoga. The goal of this project is to develop an intelligent wearable sensor-based yoga training system that can help visually impaired users learn yoga independently. The system will track user motion in real-time and provide immediate, non-visual feedback for pose correction and guidance.

Funding source: YoLoV (Yoga for Low Vision): Wearable Sensor-based Virtual Yoga Learning System for People with Low Vision, U of Arizona faculty seed grant. (11/1/20 - 5/31/21). PI: Lim.

More details can be found on:

• Islam, M. S., Grudinschi, M., Lee, S., Harden, S., & Lim, S. (in preparation). Effects of Vibrotactile Feedback on Remote Yoga Training.

• Grudinschi, M., Norland, K., Lee, S., & Lim, S. (2021). The Effectiveness of Wearable Sensor-Based Vibrotactile Feedback in Yoga Training for Users with Visual Impairment. Abstract accepted for the 12th International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE), Manhattan, New York, July 2021.

• Grudinschi, M., Norland, K., Lee, S., & Lim, S. (2020). Task Analysis on Yoga Practice Toward the Wearable Sensor-based Learning System for Users with Visual Impairment. Proceedings of the 64th Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES), Chicago, Illinois, October 2020. DOI: 10.1177/1071181320641144