18-Jun-12 (‹#›)/department Industrial Design

Quantified Self real-life research

on Sports and Vitality

Prof.dr.ir. A.C. (Aarnout) BrombacherEindhoven University of Technology

National Dutch Research- and Innovation-agenda Sports

– (Top)Sports can have a huge impact on national

branding/reputation

– Sports/leading a healthy lifestyle can have a huge

impact on health and vitality of large parts of the

population

• Therefore sports can have a large impact on

the national economy

• The field, however, is largely scattered…

The “double challenge”

4

TopTeam Sport

Harry van Dorenmalen Algemeen Directeur IBMMaurits Hendriks Technisch Directeur NOC*NSFMartin Olde Weghuis Technology Manager Royal ten CateBas van Rens CEO MylapsAarnout Brombacher Hoogleraar/Decaan TU EindhovenGeri Bonhof Voormalig voorzitter CvB van HUEric van der Burg Wethouder Sport Gem AmsterdamAntoinette Laan Lid RvT Kennis Centrum SportBart Zijlstra Directeur Sport, Ministerie van VWS

Topteam Sport

Sport

Bedrijfsleven

Wetenschap

Overheid

• Creëer een vraaggerichte Kennis- en innovatieagenda sport gericht op het vergroten van massa, focus en rendement van kennis en innovatie.

• Geef advies over het vormen van een open netwerk vanuit sport, wetenschap, bedrijfsleven en overheden.

• Geef advies over randvoorwaarden voor zowel de uitvoering van de kennisagenda als het functioneren van het netwerk.

• Geef advies over monitoring en evaluatie van de agenda.• Bouw verder op bestaande agenda’s en structuren, maar wijk hiervan

gemotiveerd af als dat nodig is gelet op de doelen van massa, focus en rendement.

• Develop a national research and innovation agenda for sports– Topsports– Vitality

• Do this together with sports/sporters, knowledge institutes, industry and public sector

• Increase mass, focus and yield of related knowledge (development) and innovation

• Develop an open network

photo: Peter van Aalst, Keerpuntanalyse in InnoSportLab De Tongelreep

Assignment

• Define Status Quo

– National and International literature

– Already existing initiatives*

– Consult experts

• Build a team

• Develop a joint Roadmap

*Sectorplan sportonderzoek, InnoSportNL, Sports & Technology, Business in Sport,

Rapportage Sport, Sport in Beeld, Onderzoeksprogramma Sport, …

Approach

• Sport at Universities

• Institutes

• Research groups

Status Quo

• Sport at Universities of Applied Sciences

Presentating the Agenda to the Minister

18-Jun-12 (‹#›)/department Industrial Design

Quantified Self real-life research

on Sports and Vitality

What do we do in Eindhoven?

Prof.dr.ir. A.C. (Aarnout) BrombacherEindhoven University of Technology

18-Jun-12 (‹#›)/department Industrial Design

Major themes at TU/e level (Strategic Areas)

10

18-Jun-12 (‹#›)/department Industrial Design

• TU/e research program

• Sponsored by TU/e board under the Impulse 1

program “Mine your own Body”

• 6 participating faculties (B, EE, ID, IE&IS, W&I,

BMT)

• Close collaboration with several key-partners

outside TU/e

• Fontys, University of Utrecht,

Research program Human Vitality and Technology(former People, Sports and Vitality)

18-Jun-12 (‹#›)/department Industrial Design

• Measuring lifestyle/behavior in the field is (/was up

to very recent) incredibly difficult.

• You can not put people for longer time in labs

(fortunately…)

• Tracing actual behavior in the field creates

several major problems

• Technically (what do you measure, how do you

gather and process the information, how to

create meaning)

• Legally

• Ethically

Bottleneck: what is happening in the field

18-Jun-12 (‹#›)/department Industrial Design

• Three groups of people form a clear exception with respect to

analyzing behavior in the field

• People who want to be physically more active and want to

do this in a responsible manner without the help of a

professional coach

• People who want to adopt a healthier lifestyle as part of a

recovery process after regular (medically supervised)

therapy has ended

• Non-elite athletes who want to have support to improve

their performance on their own

• These are our main target groups

Ethical/legal problems

18-Jun-12 (‹#›)/department Industrial Design

• Can we create new concepts/propositions where

technology creates added value/tailored support for

the people involved

• Can we create new concepts/propositions that make

sports/activities an attractive part of everyday life

• Can we validate these propositions in context

Key research questions

18-Jun-12 (‹#›)/department Industrial Design

Building and Architecture

• Bert Blocken (wind climate and aerodynamics)

• Pieter vd Wesemael (healthy cities)

Computer Science and Mathematics

• Wil vd Aalst (process mining, bodily data)

Electrical Engineering

• Peter de With (analysis of sports-video data)

• Peter Balthus (sensors/actuators)

Industrial Design

• Aarnout Brombacher ((on/near-body) field data acquisition, analysis and

design)

• Loe Feijs (on-body design)

• Caroline Hummels (design for societal transformation)

• Panos Markopoulos (design for rehabilitation)

• Ben Schouten (playfull interaction)

Industrial Engineering

• Jan de Jonge (organizational psychology and sports)

Innovation Sciences

• Wijnand IJsselsteijn (human technology interaction and sports)

Key chairs involved

18-Jun-12 (‹#›)/department Industrial Design

Data acquisition: Recent Revolution (2010-…)

Truly versatile portable

real-time 24/7 data

acquisition platform

(Big Data)

18-Jun-12 (‹#›)/department Industrial Design

• Direct measurement

• Position (GPS) / time

• Acceleration

• Activity type (walking/running/cycling)

• Measurement via connected sensors

• Heart rate/ECG

• Respiration

• (EMG)

• (Transpiration)

New possibilities, available with no/low threshold

18-Jun-12 (‹#›)/department Industrial Design

• Very little field data available on activity patterns of (adult)

recreational sporters/non-sporters

• During sports/training (when, where, how)

• During recovery

• Even more difficult how to design propositions that, positively,

affect these patterns

• Low participation and extreme drop-out rates for sports at ages

beyond 15

• Successes exist but underlying mechanisms still under subject of

further research (Vlaanderen Loopt)

Research problem not trivial

18-Jun-12 (‹#›)/department Industrial Design

Commercial apps are available but added value

to end-users is limited

18-Jun-12 (‹#›)/department Industrial Design

• What groups (see work of prof. Steven Vos) would

require what type of support

• Motivation

• Profile specific guidance and support

• How can we design suitable

systems/products/services for this

• How can we measure the results

• How do we interpret the data

Needed: specific support for specific profiles / user groups

18-Jun-12 (‹#›)/department Industrial Design

Research structure

18-Jun-12 (‹#›)/department Industrial Design

A very recent example….

18-Jun-12 (‹#›)/department Industrial Design

Another example: Smart Goals (Chris Heger, Mark de Graaf)

18-Jun-12 (‹#›)/department Industrial Design

Some further examples…

18-Jun-12 (‹#›)/department Industrial Design

• Research,

• on end-users level,

• data-centered

• based upon new, often low-cost, technology,

• directly in the field

• New products/systems/services

• Using detailed on-body information (during sports activities and/or 24/7)

• To support wide ranges of sports (priority: running, swimming and football)

• On an individual level, based upon individual characteristics andrequirements

The future