Physical Computing Studio: Headgames

Project Overview: For my Physical Computing minor I took a project course called Physical Computing Studio. We were broken up into pairs to work on projects that fit within the broad definition of Physical Computing - any sort of computing that interacted with the physical world. For one of the projects, my partner and I decided we would create a headband that would measure force and acceleration received and report the data to the user in a useful way. We came across this project after taking an interest in sports-related concussion injuries.

My Role: Electrical Engineer / Designer

Project Duration: 4 Weeks (Fall 2015)

Platform: Light Blue Bean Microcontroller

Project Goal: To create a way to collect data for concussion research for women’s socker.

What Did I Do?

Most people, when they imagine concussions, they picture huge football or hockey players running into each other. However, one of the most at-risk sports for concussions is women’s soccer. There wasn’t a whole lot of certainty why at the time, because there wasn’t a lot of research or data on it. Football and hockey players wear helmets, which can easily house electronics that measure force and acceleration for research. My partner and I came up with a solution for research for women’s soccer: a lightweight headband that held a small microcontroller (LightBlue Bean) connected to force sensors and an accelerometer that would send the data to a nearby phone or computer that was connected via bluetooth.

We met with a Sports Psychiatrist from Pittsburgh as well as folks in the Sports Concussion Research Program from the University of Pittsburgh to learn more about how research was being done in the field at the time, and where our prototype could fit in and fill a void.  We developed a robust prototype headband that measures force of impact over time during sports events, specifically in teenage sports where smart helmets are otherwise too expensive. The wearable was a headband that could be worn independently or with the athletes’ current equipment. The data will be analyzed and presented live on a mobile app. Data over time could be useful research data to attempt to link frequency of or a certain threshold of head impacts to head injury.