Today sport is experiencing a silent revolution dictated by continuous technological evolution. The laboratory goes from being a physical place to a “second skin” to wear. The Polytechnic of Milan is at the center of projects that drive this transition and at the event Winter Sports Techthe professor Giuseppe Andreoni – Teacher of Industrial design studio for wearable sport of the Lombardy university – has charted the course of the future, we are in the era of Wearable, wearable devices where technology becomes pervasive, invisible and fundamental for safety and performance.
From the Smartwatch to the “intelligent T-shirt” in sport: wearables
In recent years the use of sensors for monitor sports performance. These are systems in contact with or near the body capable of measuring, processing and transmitting physiological and physical parameters such as heart rate, oxygen saturation and sleep quality. Using this real-time information, coaches can make decisions to optimize performance and ensure the safety and well-being of athletes.
When we talk about wearablelet’s immediately think about the clocks or garlic smart rings but the innovation does not stop here and aims at a total integration of sportswear:
- Smart textiles – smart fabrics: thanks to the excellence of Made in Italy in textiles, today we are able to embed the sensors directly into the fabric weave. It is no longer a question of “gluing” a chip onto a t-shirt, but of creating yarns that conduct electricity and data to create, for example, t-shirts that perform electrocardiograms (ECG).
- Advanced accessories: watches (smartwatches), rings and smart glasses.
- Exoskeletons and prosthetics: they are used not only for example in the Paralympics – where technology replaces a lost function – but also for the rehabilitation or the work supportFor reduce fatigue And prevent injuries.
The challenge is to obtain design + technology + man
Making these devices requires an approach multidisciplinary. A sensor must be:
- Technological: accurate and reliable in collecting data.
- Aesthetic: the athlete must want to wear it.
- Functional: it must not hinder movement, weigh or cause discomfort.
The goal is the non-intrusive monitoring: Collect terabytes of data without the athlete realizing they are being watched. The concept is that the laboratory leaves its walls and “dresses” itself on the athlete. Sport thus becomes the most severe testing ground for testing solutions that will then enter our daily lives.
The development of multiparametric monitoring systems put into practice and patented at the Polytechnic of Milan spans various sports. Combining research and teaching has allowed researchers to find various applications such as sensorized shirts for women’s football, smart costumes for the analysis of swimming performance and systems motion capture In the tennis which reconstruct the kinetics of movement in 3D in real time, to correct the technical gesture instantly.
Future prospects of wearable devices
For the Professor Andreoni wearables have already reached technological maturity in the sense of reliability, quality And industrialization (rings, glasses, watches). The next step will be to integrate artificial intelligence systems capable of analyzing the enormous amounts of data that are produced by these sensors in the so-called “data era”. But the final frontier is even more fascinating: the embeddables, or go from wearable tointegrated with sensors and technologies that will no longer be above the skin, but connected and integrated directly into the body.
