From the lab to the field: technology that’s right to wear
It’s the age of big data and the internet of things, where a watch no longer tells you simply the time. It can now tell you how fast your heart is beating, how well you’ve slept, how far you’ve travelled and how fast you’ve moved. The use of wearable technology is rapidly increasing in many key areas including business, military, sports, gaming and medicine. Data collected from these devices can be used by health practitioners to better understand our health needs, predict potential health issues and plan suitable treatment options.
In elite sports, wearable technologies are routinely being used to monitor and optimise athletes’ performance, both on and off the field of play. In fact it is in this domain that many of the technological advances are being developed. Multidisciplinary experts from the Human Performance Research Centre and the Centre for Audio, Acoustics and Vibration at UTS are collaborating to determine the quality, safety, reliability and the validity of the data generated by these devices in an elite sports performance context.
“We want to cut through the some of the noise around wearable technologies to generate high quality, scientific research evidence-based findings that will benefit both the elite sports industry and, ultimately, the general population as a whole,” said Dr Ben Halkon from the School of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering.
The investigator team, which also includes Professor Aaron Coutts and Associate Professor Mark Watsford, have developed a five phase evaluation approach which begins with testing of isolated individual and multiple human motion specific variables within the UTS Faculty of Engineering and IT Dynamics Lab. State-of-the-art, high precision bespoke systems and processes that can repeatedly generate specific physical motion profiles enable researchers to arrange defined levels of displacement, velocity, and acceleration on the bench top and measure these parameters against gold standard benchmarks. The optics-based measurement technology used is robust enough to be deployed not just in the lab but also in certain scenarios in the field of play.
“Having access to the kinds of capabilities and facilities that exist within the Faculty of Engineering and IT really extends our ability to determine with greater confidence the suitability and performance of sports wearable devices from a fundamental level and up,” said Assoc. Prof Mark Watsford from the Faculty of Health Sport & Exercise Discipline Group.
Subsequent phases will involve controlled, player-based testing with multidimensional, high velocity treadmills in the Biomechanics Lab through to with controlled training drills on the court. The final phase will involve testing the variable devices in authentic, ad hoc play scenarios where athletes will be running, jumping and changing directions as they do in formal matches.
“We can forgive wearable technology for not being as precise as the high-end systems we’re able to use in the lab, but when you’re using them at the elite level, where athletes are an extremely valuable asset, we need to be able to rely on the devices to provide us with that extra level of certainty,” said Dr Halkon.
“The software that sits on top of the sensors in these devices is designed to improve their performance and to present the most useful information possible directly to the end user. Our research aims to test whether that process is working effectively to give us valid data upon which coaches and athletes can rely in order to make the best possible decisions to improve their chances of successful sporting outcomes.”
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