MEMS in sports is not a new idea. Years ago, Freescale began demonstrating how MEMS could help analyze and improve golf swings by retrofitting accelerometers in the shaft of a golf club. Check out this 2007 video clip from Freescale. Since then, I’ve seen an increasing number of examples of MEMS in sports; not just in demos, but in actual products.
Like many things in high tech, good design has spurred the adoption and application of MEMS in sports. While hosting the first MEMS TechZone at CES last month, I saw another compelling example of MEMS-enabled sports from the guys at Diesel Dogs, as they were our booth-buddies and part of Freescale’s exhibit. Diesel Dogs has partnered with Freescale to develop Bluetooth Smart Weights, MEMS-enabled barbells that relay the movements of weights to an Android application. Diesel Dogs’s Smart Weights could be used for people who want to optimize their weight training workout. This is the kind of MEMS in sports that can help me become a smarter athlete.
Thanks to the lower price point of MEMS devices (including accelerometers, gyroscopes, and microphones), we are seeing an increase in the adoption and integration of MEMS in sports. This is such a hot topic that MEMS Industry Group (MIG) -- a partner of Sensors in Design (part of Design West Summit) -- will showcase MEMS in sports at next month’s conference.
“MEMS in Sports” will feature four not-to-be-missed presentations. Two of them, from Syride and R0R3 Devices, were such hits at MIG’s Technology Showcase at the MEMS Executive Congress in November, that I asked them to join me at Sensors in Design.
Syride focuses its MEMS in sports on surfing. Syride’s MEMS-enabled Sys-Evo -- a lightweight yet durable device that mounts onto a surfboard -- gives surfers information on wave height, speed, ride time, distance paddled, and calories used, essentially making them "smarter" surfers.
R0R3 Devices has designed a heart rate monitor (HRM) wristband that is way more comfortable than the typical chest band for monitoring your heart rate while exercising. It uses MEMS accelerometers to sense the motion of the person wearing it. The R0R3 Devices’ HRM interacts elegantly with standard oximetry sensors to facilitate more precise measurements.
Those are some pretty cool examples of MEMS in action on the sports field. Given a segment (and hopefully a growing one) of the population's focus on fitness and competitive sports, seems like a natural application and one that can really give athletes far more control over their training regimens.
Yes, this is an interesting use of MEMS. I remember a few years ago, a company started up that captured the golf swings and baseball swings of stars and sold a system that tracked the user's swings against those of the stars. Cools application for MEMS. Not sure how successful that company was, but it was a clever idea.
On Fox Sports Science a few years ago, MEMS were used to measure the impact of two colliding Sumo wrestlers. They also used MEMS to study Jerry Rice's football catching techniques. See below.
Karen, I remember seeing that Freescale demo using the golf club.At the time, it was very Out-of-Box innovation, and still is.It reminds me of my R&D role at Motorola 10 years ago when many engineers were innovating with new emerging technologies and applying them as prototypes to every-day life applications (the origin of the "App" --- Marketing further coined the phrase, "Looking for the nextKiller App").
Various technologies are constantly maturing out of labs across the world, and the design engineering community is tasked with creating innovative uses for them in everyday life.Your list of MEMS applications falls into that category.So it's frustrating to me how mainstream advertising has brainwashed the public into thinking that "Apps" are only software downloads found on iPhones.
"Say you want to change the public's paradigm of what creative design engineering can do with MEMS .... There's an APP for that!"
When Benedetto Vigna developed ST's first MEMS based accelerometer it was meant as a component for the entertainment industry beause it was used in Nintendo. See the impact that product has made.
Thanks @Rob for the comment. Yes, I think what makes MEMS in Sports different now is that it is enabling much more than a "gee whiz" type of application (as in "gee whiz, look at what I just did in the lab") to applications that are designed to better interface with users in their environments (not just in labs). It's again, another example of the importance of design is so critical to the adoption of MEMS.
@Charles - that is so cool and I love the fact that you wrote that story in 2007. Thanks for sending me the link. And what's exciting now is that it's not just major league athletes (and Sumo wrestlers) who can benefit from the intelligent sensing of MEMS - it's folks like you and me - who want to use MEMS technology to work out "smarter" and more effectively. I look forward to seeing more examples of MEMS in Sports as well as MEMS improving quality of life (through sport). And thank you again for the post!
I would also guess that as MEMS moves out of the lab and ends up in devices used by consumers, you would also see a much larger volume of production. Have you seen much larger volume in the production in the MEMS world in recent years?
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