PFI-TT: Wearable Strain Sensors for Real-Time Joint Angle Tracking in Sports

这一创新-技术转化伙伴关系(PFI-TT)项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是使运动跟踪成为可能。拟议的技术可以补充，甚至在某些情况下取代现有的可穿戴全球定位系统(GPS)和惯性传感器。尤其是关节运动学对许多运动项目至关重要。在短期内，这项可穿戴传感技术的创新将为跟踪运动中的关节运动提供准确、无线、不显眼、可清洗和可靠的解决方案。从长远来看，除了运动性能监测外，可穿戴关节运动跟踪器还可以实现一系列新的可穿戴应用，如人类活动和健康监测、人机界面、假肢和机器人。该项目的教育/领导力发展计划为研究生和本科生提供跨学科领域的培训，包括实施和商业创业，以及技术转移和商业化的经验。拟议的项目旨在开发一种可穿戴系统，使用基于银纳米线的可伸缩应变传感器直接跟踪关节角度。提出的可穿戴关节运动跟踪方法可以很好地解决几个挑战。首先，提出的基于纳米线的可穿戴传感器在机械上是可伸展的，佩戴起来很舒适。其次，电容式传感允许在宽应变范围内实现快速响应时间、低滞后和恒定量规系数。第三，可扩展的制造和与纺织品的集成是可行的。这项技术将满足对人体关节运动进行准确和不显眼的监控的日益增长的需求。该PFI技术开发和商业化项目将传感器与各种运动纺织品/胶带和其他组件集成在一起，以开发可穿戴系统，开发数据分析以处理连续数据流和交流性能信息，并在运动训练中测试和评估可穿戴系统。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is in enabling motion tracking in sports. The proposed technology can be complementary to, and in some cases replace, the existing wearable global positioning system (GPS) and inertial sensors. In particular, joint kinematics is of critical importance for many sports. In the near term, this innovation in wearable sensing technology will provide an accurate, wireless, unobtrusive, launderable, and reliable solution to track joint motions in sports. In the long term, in addition to sports performance monitoring, the wearable joint motion trackers could enable a broad range of new wearable applications such as human activity and health monitoring, human-machine interfaces, prosthetics, and robotics. The educational/leadership development plan of this project provides the graduate and undergraduate students with training in interdisciplinary areas including implementation and business entrepreneurship as well as experience in technology transfer and commercialization.The proposed project seeks to develop a wearable system for directly tracking joint angles using stretchable strain sensors based on silver nanowires. The proposed wearable joint motion tracking method may competently address several challenges. First, the proposed nanowire-based wearable sensors are mechanically stretchable and comfortable to wear. Second, the capacitive sensing allows for fast response time, low hysteresis, and constant gauge factor over a wide strain range. Third, scalable manufacturing and integration with textiles are feasible. This technology will fill the increasing need for accurate and unobtrusive monitoring of human joint motions. This PFI technology development and commercialization project integrates the sensors with a variety of sports textiles/tapes and other components to develop wearable systems, to develop data analytics to process continuous data streams and communicate performance information, and to test and evaluate the wearable system in athletic training.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.