Gyroscopic measurements of the rower’s oar pitch angle

In this paper we present an instrumentation system which integrates inertial motion sensing and mobile computing technologies to acquire sensory information during on-water rowing. The use of miniaturized piezoelectric gyros is proposed and tested to sense the oar rotation. By time-integrating the gyro output signal, the pitch angle, namely the angle the blade is away from perpendicular to the water surface, can be monitored during the stroke cycle. Timing information about the different phases of the stroke cycle, and the patterns of oar pitch motion during the stroke cycle are presented, in connection with the performance of single sculling trials, in conditions of both slow and fast rowing. The validity of our approach is then discussed, with regard to either the gyro metrological specifications or the idiosyncrasies of the difficult environment where rowing is carried out and gyro measurements are taken. Key-Words: Inertial sensing, Rowing, Portable data acquisition, Human performance measurement