Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), one of Taiwan’s leading technology research institutes, showcased promising sports and fitness technologies at CES 2023. ITRI does not produce products; instead, it licenses its technology to product manufacturers. We bring you four of the interesting health tech projects. Note that while these may be designed for fitness applications, these technologies could also be suitable for health tracking and remote patient monitoring.
iSportWeaR: It’s a smart health management solution to measure heart rate, blood pressure, and physical activity behavior such as posture and resting states. The smart technology can be integrated into sports glasses, bike hand grips, or sports helmets to monitor real-time health data.
The solution wirelessly sends alerts for any abnormal conditions. It can help athletes optimize their physical activity training for running and cycling. User’s health data is stored in a personal database and can be used to check and compare progress. The smart solution is based on a non-contact, radar-sensing technology that works with sweat interference and through gloves. It’s suitable for indoor and outdoor use and works well in all weather conditions. The operating temperature range is 5 to 50 degree Celsius, and acceptable relative humidity is 10 to 90 percent.
Digital Twin for Sports Guidance with Vital Sign Sensing: This virtual coach tech has been developed for indoor bike and flywheel training. It has a non-contact detection system that offers advice in three domains: breathing, biomechanics, and coordination.
Digital Twin determines respiratory rate through thermal sensing and comes with a depth camera for image-based skeletal movement analysis of shoulders, arms, elbows, back, hips, and knees. The analyzed data is also compared with world-class cyclists’ data and users can get real-time suggestions to improve their progress by adjusting breathing, body coordination, and motion strength. Since users are free from any wearables, they can easily focus on their training.
iMetaWeaR: It’s a smart clothing tech for haptic feedback. Users playing virtual sports like boxing and fencing in the metaverse can enhance their experience through a dry, washable fabric that has electrodes screen printed on it. While the tech is aimed at gaming first, it could also have health tech applications such as feedback during remote physical therapy and rehab exercises.
Athletic Armband: This sports armband offers insights into real-time muscle activity without direct skin contact. The armband’s contactless EMG detection can help with muscle strength training.
