Starting Block Optimization
Completed for ME 070 Instruments and Experiments, a team of 8 engineers sought to optimize the angle of a starting block to maximize a sprinter's acceleration
This project was a semester long investigation based on the hypothesis that angling the starting block such that the normal force vector passed through the sprinter's center of mass would result in the highest acceleration.
Using an Arduino and IMU strapped to the sprinter's back, LabVIEW code to analyze the data in real-time, and MATLAB to conduct further analysis, it was determined that a 45° was the optimal starting angle.
How we made it
This project was made possible with the help of Maddie Albert, Jonah D’Alessandro, Jaclyn Domenech, Omar El-Zayat, Jeremy Newman, Annika Schaad, and Andrew Skrzypczak. Each test trial was conducted over a 10 meter distance while recording the angle of the sprinter's torso relative to the ground via a calibrated starting position. Data collection was communicated via WiFi using code written by Felix Huang to a laptop running LabVIEW. A model of the sprinter was computed using the calculated chest angle and linear acceleration, which was ultimately visualized by a two link skeleton with a chest angle that changes relative to the ground. After cleaning up the data and passing it through a paired t-test via MATLAB we were able to determine our results. Please review the full report attached below for the detailed analysis.
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