Many of us have heard of the supposed boogeyman of electric doping in the cycling world, where riders have sometimes been accused of electric ‘juicing’ by hiding electric motors in their bicycles. But what if I told you that electric motors could also help track runners go even faster? It’s true, but perhaps not how you expected.
Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed the Airshield, an electric go-kart-powered windscreen that helps runners train by allowing them to run even faster without air resistance.
The large acrylic windscreen rides on bicycle wheels and is towed by an electric go-kart that uses sensors to monitor the runner’s position. Those sensors help keep the windscreen perfectly positioned by accelerating the go-kart as the runner speeds up.
The go-kart operator focuses purely on steering inputs while the computer controls the accelerator pedal.
Take a look at the Airshield in action in the video below.
It might seem like a strange way to train, especially since these Olympic athletes won’t have the benefit of chasing a plastic bubble on competition day. But it’s a legitimate training method known as overspeed training that the researchers at ETH Zurich described as enabling athletes “to reach competition speeds during training that are otherwise only possible with an increased adrenaline level.”
We’ve seen plenty of electric go-karts before, and the proliferation of compact, powerful electric motors alongside small electronic speed controllers has enabled a boom in the electric go-kart industry. But this is likely the first time such a vehicle has been used in this application.
The lack of emissions from an electric go-kart and the ability to precisely control its speed with digital inputs lend themselves nicely to such an application, though. Perhaps this type of training with electric go-kart-pulled windscreens will become more common in the future.
Could you chase a quickly acceleration clear bubble down the track at top speed? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comment section below.
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