Sensors for Biomechanics

Scope

Biomechanics applies mechanical principles to study the movement (kinematics) and its causes (dynamics) in living organisms. At a macroscopic level, biomechanics deals with the quantitative observation of how humans move, providing information about the functions of the locomotor sub-systems and the overall strategy with which a motor activity is executed. Thanks to technological advancements, an understanding of these functions and strategies can be gained from measurements provided by non-invasive sensors, which allow for monitoring human movement in the laboratory and, in some cases, in daily life contexts. These sensors measure physical quantities related to the executed motion (force, pressure, acceleration, velocity…) from which kinematic and dynamic parameters can be estimated either in the clinical or sports context.

Yet, as sensor utilization rises across different contexts/situations and the amount of data that can be collected increases exponentially, the challenge becomes providing more accurate, intelligent, real-time information, making it user friendly and offering health and sports professionals metrics that are informative, sensitive, concise, and easy to interpret. Technology usage is hindered indeed by the expense of adoption and implementation, by the skills required for data collection, extraction, and interpretation, as well as by the current lack of standardization procedures. In this context, gaining awareness about sensors’ strengths and weaknesses is of the utmost importance to their correct and informed use.

The main aim of the Sensors for Biomechanics Technical Committee is boosting the interaction among technicians/engineers, applied scientists and sensors’ end users, bridging the gap that is someway still present among these different professionals. To this aim, workshops, seminars, technical and educational events, as well as training courses, will be organized. This is expected to:

  • Favor the definition and standardization of data collection as well as data processing procedures, possibly providing general good-practice rules that may support scientists and end users when using wearable sensors for human movement analysis;
  • Guide the development of informative, sensitive, concise, and easy to interpret metrics, which are specific to the targeted application;
  • Contribute to raising awareness among sensors’ end users about sensors’ strengths and, particularly, weaknesses.
BergaminiElena

Laboratory of Bioengineering and Neuromechanics of Movement

Department of Movement, Human and Health Sciences

Interuniversity Centre of Bioengineering of the Human Neuromusculoskeletal System (BOHNES)

“University of Rome “Foro Italico”, P.zza Lauro de Bosis 15, 00135 Rome, Italy

Phone: (+39) 06 36733 506

Webhttp://www.iuc-bohnes.eu

Chair

Elena Bergamini

Elena Bergamini received the M.Sc. degree in Biomedical Engineering from the Politecnico di Milano (Italy) in 2006, and the joint Ph.D. in Biongineering and Biomécanique et Ingénierie pour la Santé at the University of Bologna (Italy) and Arts et Métiers ParisTech (France) in 2011. Since 2011 she has been with the Department of Movement, Human, and Health Sciences at the University of Rome “Foro Italico”, where she is currently an Assistant Professor. Her research concerns the development and application of methods for the quantification of persons’ motor function, both in clinical and sports contexts, with specific reference to the use of wearable magneto-inertial sensors to bring the assessment from the lab to the field.

Past Chair

Carlo Massaroni (Feb 2018 – Mar 2020)