Development of water-resistant biometric, positioning and kinetic sensors: Enabling intelligent rehabilitation, training and remote monitoring in water
Lead Participant:
TERRY NELSON ENTERPRISES LIMITED
Abstract
"Aqua Running are a Liverpool based, innovative sport science company and world leaders in the development of advanced in water training technology, including the patented hydro buoyancy suit (HBS) to aid in medical rehabilitation, performance and injury prevention.
It is medically accepted that aquatic exercise and therapy (aqua aerobics, aquatic fitness, aquafitness, aquafit) improves recovery from injury by reducing the stress on joints caused by body weight by up 90%.
Despite there being advances and rapid growth in biometric sensors and wearable technology, there has been no sensor system developed to monitor and track detailed biometrics, movement and kinetics data in water - primarily due to challenge of electronics in water and the sensors gathering accurate performance data.
To address this, we intend to overcome the technical challenges and develop a range of water resistant sensor that can be embedded in and around wetsuit neoprene material (including our HBS suit). The technology has two primary applications;
1. Enabling the kinetic and biometric monitoring in aqua exercising to aid recovery, rehabilitation and performance;
2. Monitoring the vital signs of people engaged in high risk aquatic activity -- such as scuba diving (when at the surface) or commercial fishing -- where the ability to locate people in water in can be life-saving.Both hospitals and elite sports teams (our target customers) require advanced analytics and data to develop stratified rehabilitation care and personalised performance plans; the project is therefore crucial to us accessing these markets.
The market for enterprise physiological wearables will reach £9.6bn by 2018 (56.1% CAGR) and we see this as an £32m opportunity for us by Y5 and we already have trial partners (Sanitas and Real Madrid Medical Services) and customers in place once the technology is developed."
It is medically accepted that aquatic exercise and therapy (aqua aerobics, aquatic fitness, aquafitness, aquafit) improves recovery from injury by reducing the stress on joints caused by body weight by up 90%.
Despite there being advances and rapid growth in biometric sensors and wearable technology, there has been no sensor system developed to monitor and track detailed biometrics, movement and kinetics data in water - primarily due to challenge of electronics in water and the sensors gathering accurate performance data.
To address this, we intend to overcome the technical challenges and develop a range of water resistant sensor that can be embedded in and around wetsuit neoprene material (including our HBS suit). The technology has two primary applications;
1. Enabling the kinetic and biometric monitoring in aqua exercising to aid recovery, rehabilitation and performance;
2. Monitoring the vital signs of people engaged in high risk aquatic activity -- such as scuba diving (when at the surface) or commercial fishing -- where the ability to locate people in water in can be life-saving.Both hospitals and elite sports teams (our target customers) require advanced analytics and data to develop stratified rehabilitation care and personalised performance plans; the project is therefore crucial to us accessing these markets.
The market for enterprise physiological wearables will reach £9.6bn by 2018 (56.1% CAGR) and we see this as an £32m opportunity for us by Y5 and we already have trial partners (Sanitas and Real Madrid Medical Services) and customers in place once the technology is developed."
Lead Participant | Project Cost | Grant Offer |
|---|---|---|
| TERRY NELSON ENTERPRISES LIMITED | £98,812 | £ 69,168 |
People |
ORCID iD |
| Terry Nelson (Project Manager) |