Underwater Dolphin Kick Board With Hands Pocket Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Swimmers find it difficult to learn and train the underwater dolphin kick due to its demanding technique and the oxygen deprivation while practicing underwater, and existing training devices like kickboards and hand paddles are inadequate for effective feedback and resistance in both directions.
Innovation Solution
A swim training device with a platform and hands pocket that resists longitudinal and lateral movement of the user's hands, providing feedback and maintaining a streamlined position underwater, allowing swimmers to practice the dolphin kick effectively.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If traditional kickboards with low density (less than 0.1 g/cc) are used for surface kicking training, then buoyancy and ease of operation are improved, but resistance in both downward and upward directions is insufficient for effective underwater dolphin kick training
Solution Approach 1:
The kickboard's density parameter is changed from low density (less than 0.1 g/cc) to a range of 0.1 g/cc to 1.0 g/cc, allowing the board to provide resistance in both downward and upward directions while maintaining sufficient buoyancy for ease of operation. This parameter change enables the board to resist movement in both directions, addressing the limitation of traditional kickboards that only provided resistance in one direction.
2Reliability
If swimmers train underwater without oxygen supply, then dolphin kick technique and muscle memory are improved, but oxygen deprivation makes training more difficult and limits duration
Solution Approach 1:
The kickboard provides tactile feedback through resistance forces that occur when the swimmer's hands move away from or toward the board. This feedback mechanism helps swimmers maintain proper dolphin kick technique and hand positioning during underwater training, allowing them to receive real-time information about their form without needing to surface for oxygen, thereby extending effective training duration.
3Manufacturing precision
If the hands pocket is designed to tightly constrain hand movement, then feedback and technique control are improved, but ease of insertion and removal of hands is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The hands pocket is designed with dynamic characteristics that allow easy insertion and removal of hands during entry and exit, while providing tight constraints and feedback during the actual dolphin kick training motion. The pocket's flexible yet resistant structure enables it to accommodate hand placement quickly, then maintain precise hand positioning throughout the kicking motion, resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and positioning precision.
Data Source
AI summary
A swim training device includes: (a) a platform having a top side and a bottom side, and extending longitudinally from a leading edge to a trailing edge and extending laterally from a left side to a right side; and (b) a hands pocket located on the top side of the platform and including a hands entry opening facing toward the trailing edge of the platform, wherein: (i) the hands pocket is constructed to receive a user's hands through the hands entry opening so that the user's hands are located in the hands pocket in a generally extended configuration; (ii) the hands pocket is constructed to hold the user's hands in place in the generally extended configuration against the top side of the platform; and (iii) the hands pocket is constructed to resist longitudinal and lateral movement of the user's hands relative to the platform when the user's hands are located within the hands pocket.