Alpine Skiing Robot Using a Passive Turn with Variable Mechanism

Abstract

Recently, the number of alpine ski junior players in Japan has drastically decreased. The causes include a decrease in ski areas and instructors, along with difficulty of early childhood alpine ski guidance. The alpine ski competition is not simply a glide on a slope. It requires understanding of ski deflection and skier posture mechanics. Therefore, a passive ski robot without an actuator was developed for junior racers of the alpine ski competition to facilitate understanding of the turn mechanism. Using this robot can elucidate factors affecting ski turns, such as the position of the center of gravity (COG) and the ski shape. Furthermore, a mechanism for changing the COG height, the edge angle and the ski deflection is added to the passive turn type ski robot. The developed ski robot can freely control the turn by changing those parameters during sliding.