DESIGNING AN EXPERIMENT for EVALUATING SEATING POSITIONS in PARALYMPIC ROWING

Abstract

When designing high performance sports equipment for Paralympic athletes, there are many unknowns for the design engineer to consider. The design challenge is an optimisation task per individual athlete. However, modelling this optimisation is difficult due to the many variables. This article presents the design of an experiment for identifying and evaluating various seating positions in Paralympic rowing by using a rowing ergometer with a modified seat. Results indicate that changing seating position has a substantial impact on per-athlete rowing performance.