A032: Archery Consistency Assessment by Using Inertial Measurement Unit(IMU)

<bold>Background/Purpose:</bold> Nowadays, the primary methods for evaluating archery techniques, especially the consistency, include force plates, motion capture systems, etc. However, these methods are characterized by their high cost, slow feedback, and lack of portability. Therefore, this study attempted to evaluate the consistency of archery techniques by using Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and to verify its feasibility. <bold>Method:</bold> Six Chinese national archery team archers (3 men, 3 women, elite) participated in the 50m-target field test by using 5 IMUs (Xsens-DOT, Netherlands; 60Hz) and 8-lens Qualisys Motion Capture Equipment (Qualisys-OQUS-700, Sweden; 200Hz). Phases were divided based on Qualisys data, and the Coefficient of Multiple Correlation (CMC) was used to verify the feasibility of inertial sensor in archery. DTW-distance, which was calculated by Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) algorithm, was used to evaluate the consistency of archery. One-way ANOVA was used to compare the DTW-distance in different body parts. The paired T-test was used to compare the DTW-distance between ten-ring groups and non-ten-ring groups. The significance level was set at 0.05. <bold>Results:</bold> In the comparison of acceleration parameters obtained by Xsens-DOT and Qualisys, it was found that most CMC values were greater than 0.75 (with high similarity), indicating that the acceleration curves obtained by the two systems had high similarity. Moreover, DTW-distance was used to evaluate movement consistency, and it was found that the consistency of lumbar was better than other parts (P &lt; 0.05). Additionally, there was no statistical significance in the movement consistency between the ten-ring group and non-ten-ring group of Chinese top archers (P &gt; 0.05). <bold>Conclusion:</bold> Compared with motion capture system, IMU and motion capture system have high similarity in acquiring acceleration parameters, which can be used for technical feedback of archery daily training. Additionally, the DTW-distance of lumbar acceleration parameters in the aiming phase can be used as a feedback index for archery techniques. Future research can follow up with larger sample sizes and examine the IMUs' prolonged validity and feasibility in archery.