Smart Ladder for Interactive Fitness Training

The agility ladder is a simple piece of fitness equipment that meets modern sports requirements by developing agility, stability, rhythm, change of direction, and rapid foot movement. The proposed project is applying Internet of Things (IoT) technology to upgrade the conventional agility ladder into an interactive training tool (called “Smart Ladder”). Smart Ladder is exploiting IoT technology (i.e., sensors) and digital apps to support real-time interaction with the users. Every time the user (athlete) executes a drill workout and he/she touches a step of the Smart Ladder which is a mistake, a relevant signal is produced by the IoT sensors. The Smart Ladder provides real-time feedback about the athlete’s performance, which is displayed on the trainer’s personal computer, tablet or mobile phone. Moreover, if the athlete makes a mistake, Smart Ladder provides real-time feedback to both the athlete and his/her coach. The main goal of this study is to present the Smart Ladder as well as the improvement of coaching and athletes’ training. The evaluation activities showed positive results in relation to ease of use, usefulness, ease of learning and the satisfaction (means= 5.83). Furthermore, the experimental group utilizing the Smart Ladder showed a significant improvement in 20-m run and broad jump and a significant decrease in the number of mistakes made regarding the two-foot forward exercise (
$p =0.00 < 0.05$
).