Wearable Technology : Smart phones to sports monitoring

Jim introduces wearable technology and its context within sport

Dan introduces his and Jims background in wearable technology over the last 20 years, to give a sense of where the course is coming from and perhaps a sense of wear(sic) wearables might take us in the future.

Dan introduces the transformative role technology has played in sport and how wearables are playing an increasing role in this.

Wearable technology has arisen largely because of a convergence of several technology trends and growing consumer demand. Dan steps us through each of these factors. Understanding trends can help harness them for the future.

What makes a technology wearable? Join Dan as he steps us through some the wearables on the market today and into the future.

Dan takes us through the various components you might find in wearable technology, with plenty of examples from research if you want to dive deeper

This lecture focuses on the accelerometer, one of the most popular sensors in wearables today. It use and application is much of the practical focus of this course.

Jim and Dan reflect on the content of this module. The resources also contain hyperlinks to many of the articles referenced in this module so you can go deeper with aspects of the content that interest you.

Jim introduces walking, the primary means of human locomotion as it is the first application  we will investigate applying wearable technology too.  later on you will get the chance to collect your own data.

Jim takes us on an overview of wearable data and what it looks like.

Jim walks (*cough*) us through the biomechanics of walking. Understanding how the body moves is very helpful in understand the data collected from wearables for any physical activity of interest.

Jim examines a data set collected from walking, discussing the importance of sensor placement and relating the data to what we learnt about the biomechanics of walking previously.

Jim takes a detailed look at the biomechanics data previously collected and how it is interpreted.

Jim and Dan reflect on the content of this module. The resources also contain hyperlinks to many of the articles referenced in this module so you can go deeper with aspects of the content that interest you.

We get on to the doing part of the course now. Dan introduces the various aspects of understanding wearable data and collecting it

Most mobile phones have wearable sensors in them. Dan takes us through the process of finding a suitable App to collect acceleration data using an Android mobile phone using the Play store. Similar Apps are also available on iPhones.

Dan takes us through the process of using a mobile phone App to collect wearable sensor data, and then some ways to get it to a computer to display it graphically. Some sample data sets are also included.

Jim takes us through using a commercially available wearable technology device. This one is a research product so a bit more complicated than a phone ...but still quite do-able as you will see.

Wearable technology data needs to be managed for integrity, security so you can find what you are after. Jim takes us through the steps and various considerations.

Wearable technology collects data over time, often hundreds of times a second. This is called time series data, Jim helps us get our head around the ins and outs.

Jim and Dan reflect on the content of this module as we delve into the practicalities.

Dan examines wearable technology data from a technology point of view.

Wearable technology is almost exclusively digital and this has a whole host of implications. This short lecture introduces the basics of digital data.

Acceleration data from wearables is the key focus of this course. understanding it various components is critical to being able to interpret the data and determine what is a useful signal of intrest. Dan draws on a host of examples from various sports to help understand acceleration data better.

Jim and Dan reflect on the content of this module. The resources also contain hyperlinks to many of the articles referenced in this module so you can go deeper with aspects of the content that interest you.

Jim introduces the domain of investigating different physical activities and wearables

Jim takes us through the application of wearables to walking

Jim takes us through the application of wearables to running.

Jim takes us through the application of wearables to swimming.

Dan takes us through the application of wearables to aerial sports.

Dan takes us through the application of wearables to the sport of cricket.

Jim shows us how wearables can be applied to studying lifting.

Jim straps some wearables on a motor cross rider, complete with helmet cam and sensor data together.

Jim and Dan reflect on the many physical activities and sports they have worked with over the years. The resources section has links to many of the publications  (most of them publicly available) relating to these applications...for a deeper dive!

This course has barely scratched the surface of wearables and analysis of physical activities, there are many more tools available to go deeper as Dan explains.

Inertial navigation is often the first thing people try to do with wearables, Dan explains why its not for the faint hearted.

Signature analysis is a discovery based method for understanding wearable sensor data, it has many computational advantages...as Dan explains.

Gyroscopes are the angular cousin of linear accelerometers and are a vital tool in wearables these days.

Jim explains how wearable data can be greatly enhance by incorporating data from our sources through "fusion".

Validation is the process by which we determine a wearable is measuring what it is supposed to, as Jim explains.

Motion capture is a vital tool in understanding biomechanics and can greatly help with the understanding of wearable data, as Jim explains.

Jim and Dan reflect on using some of these more advanced techniques. The resources section has links to many publications  (most of them publicly available) to help you go deeper!

Thankyou for doing our introductory wearable technology course...its just the beginning!