Development of a Horse Robot for Indoor Leisure Sports

Recently, indoor sports simulator equipped with virtual reality devices, like screen golf system, are riding high. There have been many attempts to develop the indoor simulator systems which can make people enjoy exercises in various sports area. A real horseback riding could not have been popularized, because of the cost involved, difficulty to learn and its dangerousness. In this research, a robotic horseback riding platform based on parallel mechanism and virtual reality device is proposed. The proposed platform provides realistic riding feels and various levels of riding difficulty. The equipped motion capture system with a vision sensor enables riders to correct their riding posture based on expert’s one. The developed horseback riding platform make it possible to enjoy a horseback riding in all weather, and also can be used for systematic horseback riding training.