Balance strategy in hoverboard control

Abstract

Abstract This study examines how people learn to perform lower limb control in a novel task with a hoverboard requiring to maintain dynamic balance. We designed an experiment to investigate the learning of hoverboard balance and two control strategies: A hip strategy, which mainly uses hip movements to change the angle of the foot, and an ankle strategy relying more on ankle motion to control the orientation of hoverboard plates controlling the motion. Motor learning was indicated by a significant $$10\pm 4$$ 10 ± 4 % decrease in the trial completion time (p < 0.001) and a significant 24 ± 11% decrease in total muscle activation (p < 0.001). Furthermore, the participants, who had no prior experience riding a hoverboard, learned an ankle strategy to maintain their balance and control the hoverboard. This is supported by significantly stronger cross-correlation, phase synchrony, lower dynamic time warping distance between the hoverboard plate orientation controlling hoverboard motion, and the ankle angle when compared to the hip angle. The adopted ankle strategy was found to be robust to the foot orientation despite salient changes in muscle group activation patterns. Comparison with results of an experienced hoverboard rider confirmed that the first-time riders adopted an ankle strategy.