Imperial College London and World Scouts celebrate 100 years

Bioengineers celebrate Scouting centenary by encouraging scouts to engage in engineering- News

Thursday 19 July 2007
By Colin Smith

What do 40,000 Scouts, virtual-reality penguins and Imperial College London’s Department of Computing and Institute of Biomedical Engineering have in common? They’ll all be involved in an interactive display at the World Scout Jamboree in London 27 July to 8 August 2007.

Volunteers from Imperial will be on hand with an interactive display designed to get young minds thinking about the practical applications of bio-engineering, sensing and computing.

Part of the display will showcase the latest research in body sensor networks. Professor Guang-Zhong Yang    and his colleagues have developed a miniaturised ear-worn activity recognition sensor, called e-AR sensor, which can be used for fitness and healthcare applications. To demonstrate the concept, an interactive game has been developed.

“We’ve augmented an open source game called Tux Racer. By wearing the e-AR sensor users can navigate a virtual-reality penguin down a slalom obstacle course,” said Professor Yang.

“Imperial volunteers will demonstrate how this fun and interactive game has important applications in the real world; especially for athletes.”

Traditionally, the assessment and measurement of athletic performance has been carried out in laboratory settings or via simple observation. These conditions, however, fail to replicate the exact physical and mental environment of the athlete during competition.

Imperial’s e-AR sensor will enable real-time monitoring of athletic performance during training. This allows programmes to be tailored to the individual’s physical abilities.

The College’s stand will also showcase a range of other applications for wireless sensor networks. The aim is make the Jamboree campsite more interactive and environmentally aware.

A computer generated model of the campsite has been developed by the Imperial team. Scouts and the general public can logon to Google Earth and get a visual of the campsite in 3D.

Cameras and weather monitoring sensors set up around the campsite will also help scouts to see the latest activities and weather reports in different areas.

“We really hope our display helps to enthuse the next generation of budding engineers,” concluded Prof. Yang.

The World Scout Jamboree, held as part of the centenary of celebrations of scouting world-wide, coincides with Imperial’s centenary celebrations. Scouts from 200 countries will converge on Hylands Park, Chelmsford, Essex, to celebrate this important milestone.