Boxing against drones: Drones in sports education

This paper investigates how drones could be integrated into the context of sports, boxing in particular. The goal of this project is to design a drone application that allows direct and embodied interaction. The sport of boxing provides a very interesting setting, because the intimidating and dangerous appearance of the drone could be beneficial when it is used as a boxing opponent. A concept of a drone box application was developed and a pilot experiment was performed to compare drone against human boxing with human against human boxing. It was found that even in a simple exercise, the present day drone technology wasn't fast and precise enough to provide a fluent sparring experience. A positive outcome was that participants did complete and enjoy the exercise in both cases. Present day drones could be used for boxing exercises in which no or minimum impact is required.