The origins of wearable technology

Back in the early 2000's I was working at a friends start up on the west coast of Canada. Little did we know that we were creating one of the worlds first wearable systems for athletic analysis. With a very small group we created the hardware and software for a system that athletes would wear around their waist to measure explosive performance. This is what one of the first prototypes looked like:

We transmitted raw accelerometer and gyroscope data from the device to a base station for processing. At the base station, the raw data was processed to provide meaningful metrics for strength and conditioning coaches, such as jump height during jump testing and ground contact time during running.

As with all new technology, validation was important, so we collaborated with researchers at the University of Victoria to perform validation against the gold standard:

Thankfully, the hardware progressed over time:

This was before smart phones, so we designed the software to run on a Tablet PC, here are some software screen shots.

The high point of the company was when our technology was featured on the Fox Sports Networks program - Sports Science.

Unfortunately, the company was a bit too ahead of it's time, as this was before the age of smart phones. The company decided to sell the product with Tablet PC's, which drove up the price far beyond what strength and conditioning coaches were willing to pay for testing equipment. Not enough sales were generated and unfortunately the company had to pack it in.

I was privileged to be one of the first developers to work on algorithm creation and validation from a wearable tool to measure performance. Looking back also makes me realize how far I've progressed; I've obtained my PhD in the space, I've worked on medical applications, I'm applying machine learning techniques as well as using different physiological sensing technologies. This experience put me on the path I am today and I hope I can help your group determine how you can best leverage data from your wearable biomedical solution. Please get in touch.