Wearable impact monitor wins international competition

A wearable impact and health monitor was named the winner in the Sudden Impact design competition, a challenge involving 12 engineers from around the world competing to develop wearable health solutions that can detect and prevent sports-related injuries.

The winning design features a main helmet unit that measures head impact, body temperature, tilt, global positioning and even brain activity. A separate electrocardiogram chest module measures heart rate, and both units provide data and alerts to an Android smartphone app.

The design was created by engineer Cosmin Iorga from the US.

The Sudden Impact competition is part of element14 community’s ‘Engineering a Connected World’ initiative to drive innovation by connecting engineers to powerful new ideas, the latest technologies and to each other.

“As with most real-world problems today, element14 believes engineers can create a preventative solution to the issue of impact-related sports injuries,” said Dianne Kibbey, global head of Community, element14.

“We’re particularly proud of leading an initiative that athletes and consumers alike want to see addressed.”

Each completed solution was rigorously tested by researchers at the School of Computing, Creative Technologies and Engineering at Leeds Beckett University.

“Impact injuries have led to detrimental consequences for athletes all over the world and advancements in wearable systems and sensors are enabling engineers to develop creative solutions to this problem,” said Professor Reinhold Behringer of Leeds Beckett University.

Behringer and his team judged each project in categories that included ambition and sophistication, set-up and installation, usability, measurements and cost-effectiveness.

The other projects that were tested included:

• a sudden impact helmet and uniform sensor system by Dragan Knezevic, Serbia;
• a real-time coach and athlete monitoring system by Austin Horning, USA;
• a helmet-mounted ski monitor by Hendrik Lipka, Germany;
• a helmet-mounted trauma monitor and heart reactor by Douglas Wong, Canada.

Learn more about the competition entries at www.element14.com/suddenimpact.