Intelligent virtual coaching system: Utilizing reinforcement learning and motion capture technology to enhance fitness training effectiveness

Artificial Intelligence (AI) virtual coaches are currently a research hotspot in the field of sports and health. To improve the effectiveness of fitness training, this article proposes an intelligent virtual coaching system based on reinforcement learning and motion capture technology. Specifically, by collecting user motion data and utilizing two-dimensional human pose estimation methods for motion capture technology, a training model is constructed. Secondly, a reinforcement learning reward function combining imitation rewards and adaptive penalties was designed to balance the needs of action imitation and diversity adaptation, thereby generating a natural and stable training action sequence. Then, to alleviate the training difficulty caused by the initial posture, a dynamic weight adjustment mechanism was proposed. Finally, the system was experimentally validated on COCO, MPII, and self-built datasets, and the experimental results showed that the system performed excellently in terms of action accuracy, adaptability, and user satisfaction.