Working on your running performance – in the virtual world
The virtual reality goggles are in place. The controllers fit comfortably in the hands. Everything is ready for the meeting with the training coach. He is already waiting in the gym – in the virtual world. He has advice for athletes who want to improve their running technique, intensify their training and also strengthen their mental attitude. From the gym it's out onto the virtual marathon course. The adrenaline level rises. The tension before the competition with many fellow runners is enormous. Here too, the coach accompanies the runners and provides them with advice and support. The virtual training should enable them to achieve even better sporting results in the future – in the real world.
Fernando P. Cardenas-Hernandez and Jan Schneider are investigating how multimodal, immersive technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) can support people during training – with the help of virtual coaches. The scientists from the Educational Technologies department of the Information Center for Education (IZB) at DIPF are developing an app for running training that can be carried out with the help of virtual reality headset: This allows athletes to immerse themselves in training settings or even competition scenarios, gain experience and later implement it during training in the “real world”, for example when learning the correct running technique or taking individual fitness levels into account.
Digital technologies have long since arrived in the sports sector: with smartwatches that document speed or heart rate for example. But also with websites that collect training data and create tailored running plans. Many sports trainers have long relied on AI to develop optimal training and nutrition plans for their customers.
The researchers have plenty of running experience themselves. Jan Schneider has been training intensively for over 20 years, regularly taking part in successful runs of various lengths and having a personal trainer at his side. His own experience helps the scientist to develop the app – because it requires more sporting expertise than a computer scientist without a running background can bring to the table.
The project, which has been running for three years and is now being completed, is being carried out in cooperation with the German Sport University Cologne, the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence Kaiserslautern, the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen and the Technische Hochschule Köln.
“We developed the app in several steps,” says Schneider, explaining the structure of the study. First, interviews were conducted with running coaches from all over the world and they were asked, which aspects are important to them when training customers. A whole list of questions was worked through, from the usual training structure to dealing with new clients and difficulties in teaching certain running techniques.
In a second step, the researchers identified the patterns from the collected answers and specified the results using another online questionnaire. They found out which factors are important for successful running training. On the one hand, these are physical and technical factors (such as strength development, correct posture, etc.), on which a great deal of research and expertise is already available. On the other hand, mental factors and your own body awareness are also of great importance when running. Schneider and Cardenas-Hernandez have focused on the mental aspect in particular, where issues such as motivation, resilience, concentration and discipline play a major role.
Following the theoretical groundwork, the app was then developed for virtual reality headsets, with usability for users being tested and optimized time and again. The prototype was finally followed by a second, improved version with controllers that allow test subjects to control their running speed, for example.
The research duo emphasize the concrete benefits of the app for exercisers. “With its help, runners can prepare themselves for a competitive situation: with unfamiliar crowds, the excitement before the start, making independent decisions in a 'horde situation',” says Cardenas-Hernandez. “The simulation is designed to help people to run with their mind and heart rather than pushed by adrenaline. To stay focused ist he main goal,” adds Schneider.
Jan Schneider has a clear answer to the question of why two scientists from the field of educational research need to develop a sports app: “Education and learning belong together. What is the point of education? To give people the chance to live their best possible lives. This also includes having a healthy body. The mental aspects that we look at in the app can be transferred to all other sports and many other situations in life,” he says.
Once development is complete, the researchers would like to make their app accessible to as many people as possible. For example at the Frankfurt Science Festival on September 28 at the Roßmarkt. There, many DIPF scientists will present their work to the interested public. And anyone who wants to can put on virtual reality headsets – and experience a virtual competition for themselves.