Development of VR Fly Ball Catching Training System Using Sound Instructions

Abstract

For inexperienced baseball players, it is difficult to predict the landing spot of an outfield fly ball and to quickly enter the catching area. We therefore considered that catching an outfield fly ball is divided into moving to the catching area and catching with a glove, and thought that catching technique could be improved by training the moving to the catching area (catching motion). We thought that the most effective way to improve the catching motion was to use audio presentation, which does not depend on what the person is looking at and does not break the concentration on the ball. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the training system and to develop a training system for catching fly balls using acoustic instructions. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the training system and compare the audio and pitch instructions. The results showed that the catching motion to move to the catching point was improved before and after the training. In particular, the catching motion was improved for the inexperienced players. The group that received the voice instruction and then the pitch instruction in that order showed a greater improvement in scoring. There was no difference in catching behavior between voice and pitch instructions. We proposed a method of wearing VR with less burden on the neck and a safe method of using VR to understand the surrounding environment while using VR.