Latest sports sensing technology demonstrated by Imperial scientists

Imperial College London scientists demonstrate their sports sensors to visitors at the Science Museum- News

Friday 11 April 2008
By Colin Smith

The latest sensing technology which could propel UK athletes to Olympic glory was demonstrated to Science Museum visitors this week by Imperial College London researchers (8-11 April, 2008).

Dr Benny Lo and a team from Imperial’s Centre for Pervasive Sensing were on hand in the museum’s Antenna Wing to demonstrate a revolutionary body sensor at the Sporting Futures Exhibition.

The sports sensor, created by Imperial pervasive sensing pioneer Professor Guang-Zhong Yang, is inspired by the semicircular canals of the inner ear which are responsible for controlling motion and balance.

Mr Pansiot demonstrates the sports sensor

Similar in look to a hearing aid, the sensor fits snugly behind the ear and gathers large amounts of data about posture, step frequency, acceleration and response to shock waves travelling through the body as their feet hit the ground.

A miniature processor inside the earpiece collects this data and wirelessly transmits it to a laptop so that the performance of an athlete can be monitored whilst they are training trackside in real-time. This process allows a coach to detect problems, for example incorrect posture at the start of a run, and immediately rectify it.

Imperial scientists believe their device is far more advanced than current sensor technologies which require athletes to be wired up to a monitor in a lab situation. This prevents coaches from getting a true indication of their athlete’s performance.

The sports sensor was demonstrated to visitors by Imperial’s Julian Pansiot, a research associate, who jogged on a treadmill whilst Dr Benny Lo explained how the device worked. Members of the public were also invited to try the sensor, which recorded their movements to a computer and generated models and graphs on a flat screen TV for the Imperial team to analyse.

Researchers also augmented the video game Tux Racer to give children an opportunity to trial the sports sensor by using their own body movements to navigate a penguin on a TV screen down a slalom obstacle course.

Dr Lo said the three day demonstration gives Imperial scientists the valuable opportunity to show how research from the Centre for Pervasive Sensing can improve the performance of athletes training for the London Olympics. He also added that the technology has wider applications in healthcare.

“The constant stream of real time information flowing from these sensors wirelessly to computers means medical staff could monitor the elderly and people living with chronic diseases like degenerative arthritis or Parkinson’s disease without the patient needing to visit their doctor,” said Dr Lo.

Imperial’s Centre for Pervasive Sensing is a multidisciplinary research facility established by the College to push forward research, pool College resources and attract investment for the development of pervasive sensing technology.