Actuated Club: Modification of Golf-Club Posture with force feedback and motion prediction in VR environment

In the golf, the trajectory and posture of the golf club during the swing influence on the direction and trajectory of the hit ball. While the instructor and the system instruct how to improve the swing, it is difficult to correct the swing motion during the swing due to lack of information quantity, time for interpretation of presented information, and lack of the sense of agency in the swing motion. Therefore, in this study, we realize the modification of the swing motion during the swing using the trajectory prediction of the golf swing and the non-grounding type force display. To cope the delay between the command of the modification and the swing correction, this system learns the golf swing trajectory of the user in advance, and predicts them. If the result of the prediction suggests the club deviates from the ideal trajectory or posture, the gyroscope presents torque in the ideal trajectory direction to correct the trajectory or posture. By practicing VR golf using the proposed system, the user can always practice golf-swing with the ideal trajectory, and can make the swing practice efficient.