Recording of occurrences through image processing in Taekwondo training: first insights

Abstract

Nowadays, the most used evaluation method of athlete’s performance in the martial art Taekwondo is still performed manually, where the coach analyses the collected videos of the athlete training. This method besides being time consuming, it is prone to errors. Aiming the development of methods for improvement the training, this project intends to present a new method for recording occurrences and recognizing the movements of athletes in real time during the Taekwondo training. To achieve the purpose, it was used the Microsoft Kinect sensor fused with image processing technics. This project arises as a collaboration between the University of Minho, the School of Technology from the Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave and the Sporting Club de Braga Taekwondo section, Portugal. It is the authors believe that the proposed system may improve the athlete’s performance and the development of the Taekwondo training technics.