The session will also feature two other companies that are leaders in utilizing MEMS in sports. Analog Devices is a MEMS supplier whose technology is being used in the training of competitive rowers, and in concussion monitoring in football helmets. (Click here to see Analog’s Rob O’Reilly demo a “MEMS-enabled inertial sensor head impact telemetry system.”)
Xsens, a company that integrates MEMS into motion-tracking devices for numerous markets, including sports, will round out the session. Xsens’s technology is an industry darling in the field of movement science. Its motion trackers combine high accuracy and ambulatory use for application in biomechanics research, sports science, rehabilitation, and ergonomics.
All four of these companies bring to the table great examples of MEMS in sports. At Sensors in Design on March 29, I look forward to presenting with them the potential of MEMS enabling even smarter athletes -- be it the weekend warrior or the Olympic athlete.
Sensors Conference: Register for our applications-oriented sensors conference, March 28-29, 2012, in San Jose, Calif. Visit the Sensors in Design site to learn more.
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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