CLARITY Darts Ahead
Researchers in the Science Foundation Ireland funded research centre, CLARITY, are using new advances in intelligent wearable sensor technologies to improve accuracy and reproducibility in darts tournaments.
CLARITY postdoctoral fellow Michael Walsh and his colleagues based at Tyndall National Institute, and colleagues from Cork Institute of Technology have teamed up with darts pro William O’Connor, who is currently the highest ranked Irish player in the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) players championship order of merit, to investigate how darts players perform targeted throwing using wearable sensor technology in order to be able to improve scoring performance.
Among the sensors used by Michael and the team are custom built state of the art wireless inertial measurement units (WIMUs) which measure tilt, force, speed and throw timing and an optical 3D motion capture system used for benchmarking.
When asked about the techniques the team are using, Michael commented “We have seen that capturing movement and providing feedback to the darts player are important factors to help improve performance. In darts the throw happens so quickly (< 200 ms) and the margin for error is so small that even the trained eye of an experienced coach has difficulty catching the small movements that can result in the winning double or a near miss”
Traditionally for highly precise sports such as darts biomechanical information is captured using a camera based 3D motion capture system. However the equipment required is extremely expensive is confined to the biomechanical laboratory and requires a specialized team to operate.
The team have developed a low cost wearable sensor technology that allows these measurements to be taken anywhere and anytime. In addition they have made these devices intelligent so that they can be used by anyone. Using this technology they have found that by placing a single sensor on a darts player’s arm they can enable the coach to easily measure the movements relating to how the player is performing. Coaches can in turn use this data to fine-tune elite players, develop training regimes or to screen younger players for the potential to perform at a high level.
According to Michael, “the technology has wide ranging applications in many sports and brings sports performance measurement out of the laboratory and onto the pitch, court or in the case of darts to the oche.”
The Cork team found that as in any sports, fatigue was a major factor in performance and that variation in arm force, speed and the player’s centre of gravity contributed to scoring error. This is something that players will be considering next month at the World Darts Federation 2011 World Cup, which is happening in Castlebar from 20-24th September.
