Master Thesis: Just like riding a bike? Learning to ride a reversed bicycle

14.02.2025, Diplomarbeiten, Bachelor- und Masterarbeiten

In this thesis you will investigate if the saying "this is just like riding a bike" actually holds true. By using a reversed steering bicycle, the goal is to investigate the motor learning process of this reversed steering bicycle and the "unlearning" process of riding a normal bicycle. For this, we will use a 3D motion camera system and track the movement of the bike and the participant in space.

Background

It has been shown that riding a reversed steering bicycle is initially impossible. But it was shown that with extensive practice, particpants can learn to ride this bike. Last year there was data published on the learning process in terms of distance over time. But there is so much more we can look at using a 3D motion system. Therefore, we want to investigate this learning process more deeply. Furthermore it was shown that while learning a reversed steering bicycle, the normal bicycle appears unrideable. We also want to investigate this process in more detail.

Your tasks

With this thesis I want to offer an approach to learn the process of conducting a scientific study. Therefore, I want you to dive into literature about the topic, collect data with participants, analyze this data, prepare figures, and write a manuscript. The exact research question might be individually set according to your preferences, as there are many questions to answer with the data we get.

Expectations

The data analysis should preferably be performed using MATLAB, therefore you should have basic skills with the program.
Engaged in doing exploratory analyses with the data.
Background in motor learning is an advantage.

Time plan

The thesis can ideally start immediately with data collection to be finished until end of May. Last start can be at the beginning of May. I will be completely present for data collection and will slowly guide you into the project along this.
Once we start, we will meet regularly on the project.
Note: Data collection has to take place on the Campus in Olympic park (CiO)

Contact

If you are interested, send me an email with a short background about yourself.

Kontakt: pascal.nietschmann@tum.de