Richard James Neil Helmer

Smart Textiles: Position and Motion Sensing for Sport, Entertainment and Rehabilitation

Innovation in textiles and clothing has embodied various combinations of new and existing materials to meet conventional needs of comfort and fashion. Interactive and intelligent textiles are emerging as many new textile materials are being used to form sensors in garments to intimately interact with the human form. Interactive textiles typically contain sensors located within a garment to detect physiological functions that are wirelessly connected to digital infrastructure and application specific software. These devices can be realised in conventional garments and have scope for application in diverse fields including entertainment, education, sport, military and medicine. Position and Motion Sensing devices will be discussed for each application, in terms of the value proposition, performance requirements, regulations, and existing technology. A case study of an entertainment device that uses limb motion to achieve an imaginary instrument, the Wearable Instrument Shirt (WIS) will be discussed in this context. The WIS combines a wearable sensor interface with software to map gestures and audio data files to form an easy-to-use gesture driven instrument that allows real-time interactive musical performances without any need for significant instrument or computer skills.

Harnessing and Understanding Feedback Technology in Applied Settings

Research on the influence of augmented feedback effects on both skill learning and performance has been examined from two differing positions, generally reflective of two core movement science disciplines: motor learning and biomechanics. The motor learning approach has been to examine the content and timing of feedback under tightly controlled laboratory settings, with a focus on simple tasks and the influence of movement outcome feedback. At the other end of the spectrum are biomechanical approaches, which have been primarily devoted to demonstrating the capacity of measurement technology to quantify and report on movement pattern effectiveness. This review highlights the gap left by these two approaches and argues that advancement of our understanding of feedback application in practical settings requires a shift towards a multi-disciplinary focus. A particular focus of the review is on how researchers and practitioners need to harness our understanding and subsequent application of the emergent feedback technologies most prevalent in elite sport settings and clinical sports medicine. We highlight important considerations for future applied multidisciplinary research driven by relevant theory and methodological design to more comprehensively capture how feedback systems can be used to facilitate the development of skilled performance.

Piezoelectric Force Response of Novel 2D Textile Based PVDF Sensors

This paper describes the development of 2D flexible sensors designed by integration of conductive fibrous electrodes and piezoelectric polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) fibers into a conventional plain woven polyester fabric. The piezoelectric properties and electrical response to the mechanical deformation of the sensors were tested using an electromechanical device built in-house. Both the amplitude of movement and the frequency of the sensors were controlled using this device and the signal efficiency of these sensors was tested for maximum signal response to the sine frequencies between 80 and 1000 Hz. The electrical signal generated by the sensors was correlated to the fineness of the PVDF fibers used, the distance between the electrodes and the nature of the electrodes. Relationships between sensor output signal under load and the type of structure were thus established.

Electronic textile resistor design and fabric resistivity characterization

Electronic components formed from electrically conductive textiles require a clear characterization of properties, such as electrical resistance, to enable the design and manufacture of safe and reliable electronic textile devices. The low dimensional stability of some electroactive fabrics can present challenges to electronic characterization. In this study, an electrical resistor was formed within a fabric by sewing a highly conductive metallic coated thread into less conductive fabric. A knitted fabric treated with polypyrrole was used to explore the effect of stitch parameters on the quality of the intra-fabric connection. A 1.5—2 mm straight stitch was identified as a reliable method for intra-fabric connection. A range of fabrics with different structures was sewn in this way and the electrical resistance characterization was compared with two other methods. The interaction of materials and processing for electronic textile characterization, component design, and manufacture is discussed.

Activity interface for physical activity motivating games

Contemporary lifestyle is becoming increasingly sedentary with no or little physical activity. We propose a novel design for physical activity motivating games that leverages engagement with games in order to motivate users to perform physical activity as part of traditionally sedentary playing. This paper focuses on the wearable activity interface for physical activity motivating games. We discuss the activity interface design considerations, present physical activity processing details, and analyse some observations of user interaction with the activity interface.

Evaluation of ambulatory ECG sensors for a clinical trial on outpatient cardiac rehabilitation

The objective of this paper is to investigate an R wave extraction function of the ECG signals from different sensors and electrodes used in an ICT-based home care cardiac rehabilitation (CR) program called the Care Assessment Platform (CAP). The CAPs focus is to provide patients an alternative option to undertake CR program at home to improve the uptake of CR programs that is currently underutilised. The CAP uses ambulatory monitoring devices to collect physiological data such as Heart Rate (HR) for a home setting. In this study we evaluated the performance of HR measurement by testing two ECG sensors and four different brands of electrodes intended for ambulatory use. ECG noise levels and error rates of R-wave extractions were analyzed under different test conditions, activities, and combinations of sensors and electrodes. The results display that the textile electrodes can have better performance than the conventional Ag/AgCl gel based electrodes and the R wave detection error rates for walking activity, the major exercise for the CR patients, are generally lower than 0.6% for all the tested textile electrodes. The study demonstrates that all the tested electrodes and sensors can obtain sufficient ECG signals for heart rate and heart rate variability studies in the CAP. It also indicates that the textile electrodes may outperform the conventional Ag/AgCl gel electrodes in particular to applications of the CR study.