Design and Innovation Day 2025

Team 1 – chAIR; a Motorized Swivel Chair to Reduce Motion Sickness in Virtual Reality

Project Description:
The NC4 Lab, led by Dr. Manu Madhav, is researching how healthy aging and dementia affect a person’s ability to navigate their surroundings using virtual reality (VR). In the study, participants sit in an office chair while wearing a VR headset and using hand controllers. The participants must shuffle their feet to rotate the chair to look around in the VR environment, which causes motion sickness. The participant sees movement in the virtual environment when they turn their heads, but their bodies are not necessarily moving in sync with what they see; confusing the brain and causing motion sickness.

To reduce motion sickness, we developed a motorized swivel chair; the participant presses a button on their hand-controller in the direction they want to turn, and the chair will smoothly rotate at a safe speed that matches the VR environment. We modified an existing motorized chair from a UK startup; replacing the seat, armrests, backrests and footrest for safety and comfort. We implemented a system that seamlessly connects the hand-controller to the VR environment and the chair; so that the chair rotates at the desired speed on command. Additionally, we upgraded the administrator control system with a simplified user interface.

Team Members:
Hannah Meaney, Adam Gurbin, Gurnoor Kaur, Shanelle Gill, Hayden Scott

Client:
Dr. Manu Madhav, Assistant Professor with the School of Biomedical Engineering

Team 2 – Hyperspectral Retinal Imaging System for Early Detection of Alzheimer’s Disease

Project Description:
Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder affecting approximately 50 million people worldwide. The current gold standard for diagnosis, Positron Emission Tomography (PET)-amyloid imaging, detects Amyloid-Beta (Aβ) plaques in the brain – a key biomarker that accumulates 15–20 years before clinical symptoms appear. While early detection and intervention can help slow the progression of this disease, PET-amyloid scans are expensive and often inaccessible, particularly for those in remote areas. Knowing that Aβ plaques also form in the retina, the unique spectral reflectance can be detected using hyperspectral imaging. However, inadequate spatial and spectral resolution, slow acquisition time, and high cost hinder the effectiveness of current hyperspectral imaging systems for Aβ detection.

This project aims to develop a multimodal imaging system that captures paired RGB and hyperspectral retinal datasets which can later be used to train an AI model capable of reconstructing hyperspectral fundus images from a standalone RGB image. This system serves as a stepping stone towards an AI-assisted RGB retinal imaging system, offering an accessible approach for the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease.

Team Members:
Yasir Ahmed, Kyle Conquergood, Latif Dhalla, Nicolas Fedrigo, Samantha Mung

Client:
Dr. Myeong Jin Ju, Assistant Professor, Dept of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences and SBME

Team 3 – Estimating The Athletic Position

Project Description:
Maintaining an optimal athletic stance is critical for athletes aiming to move quickly, powerfully, and efficiently, especially in sports like soccer, basketball, and tennis. Despite its importance, there are currently no affordable and practical tools available to measure an athletes position during dynamic movement. Our project introduces a wearable device designed to estimate the position of an athlete in real-time. The device uses a combination of of sensors to track body position as the athlete moves, allowing for precise, continuous monitoring without interrupting training. Lightweight, easy to secure, and simple to set up, the device is built to be used in clinical rehab settings and high-performance training environments. Our solution fills a critical gap in current rehabilitation and performance technology — helping athletes recover smarter and train better.

Team Members:
Mary Graves, Brandon Law, Aadesh Mehra, Kiarash Taheri, Brady Vanderzalm

Client:
Diego Grossling, MScPT, B.KIN

Team 5 – Self-Reducing Wrist Traction Device

Project Description:
Distal radius fractures are among the most common orthopedic injuries, often requiring reduction to realign the bone before casting. Current methods of reduction require a hospital bed, limiting patient mobility during treatment and incurring treatment delays due to the busy nature of the emergency room. One method requires anesthesia, which may cause side effects, while the other lacks standardized setup and training, leading physicians to avoid them.

Our project focuses on developing a self-reducing wrist traction device that is portable, easy to use, and minimally invasive. EasyAlign features a telescopic rod and a secure hold mechanism, which allows for controlled force application to improve patient comfort and help healthcare providers achieve consistent reductions. This device provides adjustable attachments to accommodate different patient sizes and anatomy, ensuring a secure hold and enabling the reduction to occur safely.

EasyAlign is radiolucent and lightweight, allowing patients freedom of movement and enabling X-ray imaging while the device is on to ensure that reduction is successfully achieved before casting. The chosen materials are durable and sanitizable, ensuring long-term reliability and ease of use. EasyAlign will improve both patient outcomes and clinical efficiency by offering a more adaptable and user-friendly solution.

Team Members:
Parmiss Abedini, Samie-Joe Eid, Kara Fitzgerald, Denise Chan, Vashika Jain

Client:
Dr. Amir Behboudi, Peace Arch Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of British Columbia

Team 6 – RapidAST: A Near Patient Antibiotic Susceptibility Test for Patients with Suspected Urinary Tract Infections

Project Description:
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) commonly affect elderly individuals and patients with spinal cord injuries. The prevalence of antibiotic-resistant UTIs is an ongoing challenge in healthcare. Antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) mitigates this problem by determining the most effective antibiotic for each unique UTI case. However, AST is conventionally handled through third-party diagnostic labs. This leads to multiday turnaround times and greater reliance on broad spectrum antibiotics. In collaboration with our client, Faisal Khan, we are developing a novel solution to automate AST in a compact and rapid device. RapidAST brings AST to point-of-care testing, increasing the specificity of antibiotic prescriptions by enabling AST outside of diagnostic labs. Our device only requires the insertion of a sample cup and a microfluidic chip for operation. From there, RapidAST performs sterile specimen extraction with automated de-lidding and peristaltic actuation. Up to seven antibiotic blister packs can be placed onto the integrated microfluidic chip for AST. This enables RapidAST to accommodate a wide range of antibiotics. Our device automatically actuates, incubates, and analyzes UTI-causing bacteria. The process concludes with an automated cleaning cycle. RapidAST’s simplicity ensures patients receive the best treatment as quickly as possible, while still obtaining reliable results.

Team Members:
Jack Pirie, Jack Plant, Peter Jung, Peter Pham, Russell Sumarno

Client:
Faisal Khan, CEO, FMRK Diagnostic Technologies Inc.

Team 7: Organ Preservation Device

Project Description:
Thousands of donated organs are lost each year due to inefficient transportation methods. The current standard, placing organs on ice, is not enough. This method only allows for a short amount of time to transport the organ due to temperature fluctuations and ice crystal formation, which can damage delicate tissues.

To address this, we are developing a portable organ preservation device that maintains organs at stable subzero temperatures. The device works with a specialized solution, being developed by our client, Advanced Agriscience, that prevents ice crystal formation.

The current design includes a steel chamber with foam insulation and is cooled using a thermoelectric component. This component creates a temperature difference —one side becomes hot, and the other side becomes cold. A fan cools the hot side, creating a larger temperature gradient, while a heatsink on the cold side increases surface area for cooling. Fans inside the chamber circulate air to ensure uniform temperature distribution. Additionally, the device will have real-time temperature monitoring and GPS tracking.

This device will enable organs to be transported farther and stored for longer, replacing the outdated ice method. This will help preserve organs better, increase their chances of success, and ultimately save more lives.

Team Members:
Ella Tate, Krishma Singla, Fatima Mirzayeva, Hannah Yeung, Ady Pahuja, Tianchen Yuan

Client:
Dr. Collin Juurakko, CEO, Advanced Agriscience

Team 9 – Stroke Rehabilitation Glove

Project Description:
Our project aims to develop a glove integrated with actuators to assist stroke survivors in their motion recovery. The device is designed for both clinical and at-home rehabilitation and helps reduce the manual workload for physiotherapists while improving patient adherence to therapy regimens.

Stroke is a major health concern in Canada, occurring every five minutes and ranking as the third leading cause of death and a huge toll on the Canadian Health Care System. It results from either blocked blood flow (ischemic stroke) or a burst blood vessel (hemorrhagic stroke) in the brain, leading to the loss of brain cells and various motor, speech, and cognitive impairments. Rehabilitation begins in a hospital and continues through physical, occupational, or speech therapy, is crucial for recovery, though the process varies widely among individuals and can take months or years.

A key factor in stroke recovery is the short neuroplasticity window—lasting only 2 to 6 weeks—during which rehabilitation is most effective. Current solutions on the market costs between $400 to $2000 CAD, which can be a cost barrier for many patients. Our proposed design provides an affordable alternative to existing solutions, making rehabilitation more accessible. The team’s goal is to design a comfortable, cost- effective, and user-friendly device that supports stroke patients in their recovery journey.

Team Members:
Adi Schlager, Andre Yu, Joyce Wu, Mehmooda Evelyn-Piprawala, Traye Lin

Client:
Sukhneet Dhillon, Founder, TruMotion Technologies Ltd.

Team 10 – Development of AI Methods for L3 Level Identification from CT Images

Project Description:
Sarcopenia, a musculoskeletal disorder marked by progressive loss of muscle mass and strength, is a significant predictor of health outcomes in disease and aging. Current diagnosis relies on manual slice identification and muscle area segmentation at the third lumbar (L3) vertebral level in computed tomography (CT) scans. However, this process is time-consuming — taking radiologists 5-10 minutes per scan — and significantly limits clinical productivity, highlighting the need for automation.

This project develops a fully-automated pipeline for rapid and quantitative sarcopenia assessment. Innovative deep-learning techniques for medical imaging were developed, evaluated, and optimized to perform two core tasks: (1) identification of the L3 vertebral slice using 2D projections derived from raw CT volumes, and (2) segmentation of skeletal muscle tissue on the identified slice to determine sarcopenia evaluation metrics.

Trained on 600 images, our model achieves L3 identification within 2.11 ± 0.28 mm and a muscle segmentation accuracy of 91% on test datasets. These results demonstrate performance comparable to manual expert analysis while reducing processing time to seconds per scan. Our scalable solution offers potential to alleviate radiologist workload, standardize sarcopenia evaluations, and enhance early diagnosis in both clinical and telehealth healthcare settings.

Team Members:
Leslie Cao, Sepehr Nouri, Ghazal Fallahpour, Victor Jiang, Jai Choraria

Client:
Dr. Ilker Hachihaliloglu, Assistant Professor, UBC Department of Radiology

Team 11 – A Tetanus Spasm Monitoring Device for Low Resource Hospitals

Project Description:
We have designed a device to monitor the clinical symptoms of tetanus muscle spasms in low resource intensive care units (ICU). Tetanus is a bacterial infection that results in painful muscle spasms, still prevalent Tanzania, our client’s country. Our design utilizes surface electromyography (sEMG) to measure the electrical signals generated from the jaw during a spasm and reports important clinical indicators to healthcare workers so they can administer the correct amount of medication. The device has a small form factor and is battery powered, allowing it to be easily transported and utilized in remote and rural communities. When a patient presents with tetanus muscle spasms, the nurse or doctor can place electrodes on the jaw of the patient, where spasms are most likely to occur (lockjaw). The device will record the patient’s muscle spasms for up to 24 hours and indicate when a spasm is happening so hospital staff can provide proper care. By monitoring the progression of tetanus muscle spasms over time, our device enables personalized and evidence-based treatment of tetanus in rural and low-resource environments.

Team Members:
Sogand Golshahian, Benjamin Green, Rex Wang, William Wu, Ruth Yu

Client:
Dr. Atish Shah, Founder, ROVERLABS

Team 12 – An apparatus to dice tissue upstream of immune cell isolation

Project Description:
Zymeworks, Inc. is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing therapies for difficult-to-treat diseases, including cancer. Within their drug development pipeline, their team uses mouse cancer models to understand how the immune system interacts with their drugs. Their team extracts immune cells from mouse tumors, which currently depends on an industry standard, manual dicing process with a scalpel and scissors before an enzymatic digestion step to dissociate live cells. This process is highly involved, low-throughput, variable, and prone to cross-contamination, which threatens the quality of downstream assays. Existing tissue-processing solutions shred experimentally valuable live cells and are costly, failing to meet our client’s needs.

We sought to design a device to increase throughput, save time and increase reliability to strengthen their pipelines. Zymetra is a tissue slicing solution that enables researchers to slice up to four tissue samples in parallel. The device uses a vertical plate to compress, cut, and extrude tissue through a platform of interlocking, custom-manufactured stainless-steel blades directly into tubes for further processing. The cutting platform is easily removable for cleaning and can be autoclaved between use. Zymetra is a simplified, cost-effective solution that will greatly reduce the time-intensity and increase the reliability of upstream immune cell isolation.

Team Members:
Bruce Ancheta, Katrina Jewell, Edward Melnyk, Maya Nathani-Sim, Reena Said

Client:
Andrew Sharon, Janessa Li, Gavin Storoschuk Zymeworks, Inc.

Team 13 – Biosynthesis of isolithocholic acid (isoLCA) for preclinical efficacy testing in mouse models of inflammatory disease

Project Description:
The gall bladder produces active biological molecules such as bile acids, which are passed through the gut to aid with digestion. Our gut bacteria break down food using these bile acids as nutrients; then, during this process, the bacteria alter the bile acids producing secondary bile acids and further derivatives. One example is the secondary bile acid ‘lithocholic acid (LCA)’ and its derivative, ‘isolithocholic acid (isoLCA)’. A healthy gut environment can produce both molecules.

IsoLCA has been shown to inhibit a cell-receptor linked to inflammation and scarring in certain diseases, such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). This molecule and its downstream systems are dysregulated in IBD, may lead to chronic inflammation and scarring. Studies have shown that isoLCA can be used to decrease this scarring; however, isoLCA is prohibitively expensive for conducting large studies. Our project partnered with Dr. Hughes, a senior research associate and Director of Immunology at Polyorphic BioScience, to synthesize a biological pathway that could create this molecule cheaply in a lab. By developing this system, IBD researchers will have better access to a potential therapeutic molecule that can be created in-house. Long-term, this project could be used to create a therapeutic drug for IBD patients.

Team Members:
Jingxuan Chen, Natalia Nayyar, Sze Lok Ng, Isaac Singh, Ivy Wu

Client:
Dr. Michael R. Hughes Client title: Director of Immunology, Polymorphic BioScience; Senior Research Dr. Kelly McNagny’s lab, SBME

Team 16 – Design of an Adjustable and Scalable Transradial Prosthesis Socket

Project Description:
Current transradial (below the elbow) prosthetic sockets are custom-molded to an individual’s residual limb but fail to adapt to natural fluctuations in limb volume throughout the day. These changes can negatively impact both the comfort and reliability of myoelectric control systems, which record electrical signals that come from muscle activation. As a result, overall performance declines, leading to reduced user satisfaction.

Our project addresses this issue by developing an adjustable prosthetic socket that adapts to these volume changes, ensuring a secure and comfortable fit for daily use. To support the compatibility for use with existing surface electromyographic (sEMG) systems, we’ve also designed a custom socket sleeve in a variety of sizes that help streamline sensor integration while improving signal consistency. This design approach accommodates a diverse range of users, enhancing both the functional performance and overall user experience of a typical prosthetic arm.

Team Members:
Jedidiah Chiusa, Yoshi Inomata, Kyle Kochi, Ronald Li, Marvin Ting

Client:
Fraser Douglas & Saud Lingawi, Graduate Research Assistants, Human Motion Biomechanics Lab (HuMBL)

Team 17 – Software Prototype for Conversion of UTE-MR to Synthetic CT Images

Project Description:
Our project involves designing an automated workflow for generation of synthetic computerized Tomography (sCT) scans from Magnetic Resonance (MR) images. While MRI is excellent for capturing details of soft-tissue, it struggles to accurately distinguish cortical bone from air. This lack of bone contrast has been a significant obstacle for using MRI in radiation therapy, despite its reliability in tumor diagnosis. As a result, CT remains the standard imaging protocol that radiologists rely upon for pre-operative planning.

However, a specialized MRI sequence called Ultrashort Echo Time (UTE) facilitates the detection of strong bone signals, allowing for the synthesis of CT-like scans through image processing. Hence, by converting MR into pseudo-CT images, our software product offers a radiation-free alternative to traditional CT scans for high-resolution visualization of the bone. This is particularly applicable for identification of complex fractures, eroded joints, and cancerous lesions.

Our workflow utilizes state-of-the-art techniques for correction of signal inconsistencies, enhancement of bone contrast, and segmentation of background noise. The prototype consolidates these image processing methods into a single executable file for seamless integration into clinical settings. The modularity of our design also allows for implementation of AI methods to enhance diagnostic quality.

Thus, our project aims to provide a practical solution for integration of MRI-based bone imaging in radiation therapy, leading to improved patient outcomes while reducing the reliance on standard CT scans.

Team Members:
Aly Khan Nuruddin, Lynn Alvarez Krautzig, Jackson Chen, Manan Verma, Yuheng Zhang

Client:
Dr. Lumeng Cui, MR Collaboration Scientist at Siemens Healthineers

Team 18 – Designing and Building a Microfluidic Device for 3D Bioprinting Cardiac Tissue and Optical Mapping

Project Description:
Our project supports Dr. Glen Tibbits and his team at BC Children’s Hospital in developing personalized therapies for treating Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, a condition where the heart muscle becomes abnormally thickened, making it harder to pump blood effectively. To expedite the testing process of the therapeutics, we designed a closed chamber microfluidic device that enables rapid testing of drug solutions on 3D bioprinted IPSC-derived cardiac tissue in a controlled environment. The device mimics the heart’s natural conditions by continuously circulating fluid and providing electrical stimulation to the tissue. This setup allows researchers within the Tibbits Lab to test different drug treatments and gather detailed data through high-resolution optical mapping, providing insights into how the tissue responds to each therapy. By using this innovative approach, we hope to help the Tibbits Lab develop more effective, personalized treatments for patients with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, ultimately improving patient outcomes and advancing heart disease research.

Figure: A – fully assembled device. B – two constituent layers of the device. The luer lock connectors, shown in yellow, represent the inlet and outlet for tubing attachment to the pump for fluid flow. In the left image of B, the black circular component is the O-ring, with the black squares inside it representing the electrodes. The two layers are held together by circular magnets positioned along the device’s edges.

Team Members:
Anthony Stewart, Arya Prabhakar, Catherine Zhu, Dylan Poon, Enda Cakmak

Client:
Dr. Glen Tibbits (BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute)

Team 19 – Head Mounted Wearable for Measuring Athletic Performance

Project Description:
Our project focuses on developing a smart head-mounted device designed to help runners understand their performance based on metrics such as stride length, cadence, and vertical oscillation. The device includes an IMU sensor that can track the runner’s movement patterns while running. This data is stored and processed to provide both real-time running metrics as well as a post-training summary, helping them to monitor their progress and visualize their efficiency. To ensure accuracy, our design was validated through experimental methods comparing metrics obtained from our device against established gold standards. Our device significantly outperforms wrist wearables in terms of accuracy in indoor training environments. The collected data will be accessible and viewable through a connected app on a mobile phone, where runners can monitor their progress over time and gain insights into their running patterns. In addition to outperforming common wearables such as the Apple Watch, we achieved our goal of creating a practical and user-friendly tool that enhances the running experience by combining smart technology with a lightweight and comfortable design.

Team Members:
Alexandra Murphy, Elias Krapf, James Lee, Min Gon Kim, Mekail Khattak

Client:
Erica Buckeridge, Research and Development Lead, FORM Swim

Team 20 – Personal Air Filtration Device

Project Description:
The personal air filtration device project aims to protect athletes from air pollution, particularly particulate matter, which can harm respiratory and cardiovascular health and impair performance. Traditional masks and purifiers are often uncomfortable or impractical for active use. This innovative device features air quality sensors and a mechanical tube housing to provide a hygienic, comfortable, and data-driven solution with unrestricted airflow.

Targeting recreational athletes as primary users, the project also considers coaches, caregivers, and the general public as stakeholders. Over eight months, the team iteratively designed and developed a functional prototype, including 3D-printed hardware, firmware, and software, along with comprehensive documentation for future improvements. By balancing comfort, hygiene, and performance, the device addresses key gaps in existing air purification solutions.

Team Members:
Gaea Buenaventura, Czarina Choy, Chaehyeon Lee, Kyle Palacios, Catherine Wang

Client:
Sebastian Chabot, Founder of the Collective Energy Foundation & Managing Partner and Founder of Tartigrade Ltd.,

Team 21 – Design of an Oral Assistive Device for Improved Chewing Post-Jaw Surgery

Project Description:
Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the most common head and throat cancer, with approximately 660,740 new cases recorded in 2020. Mandibular reconstruction surgery is the primary treatment for patients with SCC in the mouth or parts of the throat. However, mandibular reconstruction surgery results in jaw muscle loss, affecting patients’ ability to chew. Our design aims to help mandibular reconstruction patients chew more effectively and comfortably. Based on our client’s requirements, we developed a mechanical device operating entirely within the patient’s mouth. Key design needs included force generation, maintaining chewing trajectory, and minimizing device size. The clients emphasized a passive device with no electrical components, as they wanted a minimalistic, comfortable design. With this in mind, our team created a device with a double ratchet and pawl system. With additional features such as a pulley system and magnetic ring, this design reduces the effort required to open the jaw while maximizing bite force. For validation, we developed a scaled-up prototype and conducted simulations using ArtiSynth, a 3D biomechanical modelling software. Our design provides a promising solution for improving the quality of life for mandibular reconstruction patients by restoring essential chewing function in a non-invasive, fully mechanical manner.

Team Members:
Grace Feng, Alice Hu, Abhinav Kulgod, Caden Roberts, Eren Sarsu

Client:
Sidney Fels and Hamidreza Aftabi, HCT Lab, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UBC

Team 22 – I Screen You Screen We All Screen for Sunscreen

Project Description:
Ultraviolet (UV) radiation from sunlight poses a serious health risk, potentially causing permanent skin damage and raising the risk of skin cancer with prolonged exposure. In North America, 1 in 5 people experience skin cancer. This is largely preventable by using sunscreen; however, the variety of products available makes it challenging for users to gauge their effectiveness throughout the day. Additionally, many people don’t take sun protection seriously or reapply sunscreen as recommended. Our project aims to address this issue by promoting both the use of sunscreen and proper sun-protection habits.

We developed a wearable device that alerts users when it’s time to reapply sunscreen. The device measures the amount of harmful UV radiation penetrating the sunscreen on a skin-mimicking layer. When the sunscreen’s effectiveness diminishes, allowing excessive UV radiation to pass through, the device vibrates to prompt reapplication. Its modular design lets users personalize how and where to place it, promoting consistent sun protection, while a companion app can be developed to track UV exposure, monitoring your skin health.

By combining real-time UV monitoring with user-friendly alerts, our project enables optimal sun protection throughout the day, potentially reducing the risk of UV-related skin damage and promoting overall skin health.

Team Members:
Ava Adli, Christian Colarines, Patrick Esguerra, Seren Ho

Client:
Dr. David Liu, Interventional Radiologist, Associate Professor, Dept. of Radiology and SBME

Team 23 – CardioPulse: A High-Fidelity Training Phantom for Pediatric Cardiac Imaging

Project Description:
The CardioPulse is a pediatric cardiac training model designed to help radiology technicians improve their cardiac MRI (cMRI) skills for pediatric patients. cMRI is an essential tool used to diagnose congenital heart diseases by capturing detailed images of the heart’s structure and blood flow patterns. However, training radiology technicians with pediatric patients is challenging due to limited MRI availability and childrens’ low tolerance for long scans. To address this, our team, Yara Nasrallah, Simrit Boparai, Rohan Birk, Angie Peng, Tiffany Huang and Arwaa Khan, developed a heart model that mimics pediatric heartbeat and blood flow. This model includes a silicone heart that moves like cardiac tissue, two 3D-printed sliding rods that push on the heart to generate a heartbeat, and a pump circulating water to simulate blood flow. This design allows users to swap the silicone heart and adjust heartbeat patterns to represent a variety of conditions and heart sizes. This project was developed during an experience-based learning opportunity provided by the Digital Lab – an integrated unit within the BC Children’s Hospital and the University of British Columbia – for students enrolled in the BMEG 457 Biomedical Engineering Design Capstone Project.

Team Members:
Rohan Birk, Simrit Boparai, Tiffany Huang, Arwaa Khan, Yara Nasrallah, and Angie Peng

Client:
The Digital Lab (BCCH & UBC)

Team 24 – Validation of Real-Time Stroke Rate Estimation in Freestyle Swimming Using Peripheral IMU Sensors

Project Description:
FORM’s Smart Swim 2 goggles have the capability of measuring the stroke rate of freestyle swimming, but in order to validate this measurement, FORM’s current solution is to use video analysis. This results in a slow and tedious process that we have been brought in to improve. Our project aims to create an efficient method to validate their measurement and determine accuracy through the use of a wrist mounted inertial measurement unit (IMU).

We have developed a wrist mounted sensor package to help streamline FORM’s stroke rate validation process by tracking the swimmer’s motions. The sensor package is sealed within a waterproof resin printed case and uses a magnetic charging system in order to maintain the waterproof seal. In addition to the sensor package, we used Python to create a graphical user interface (GUI) that integrated our custom data processing pipeline to create a standalone product that can be easily integrated into FORM’s current testing protocol.

Team Members:
Annah Zhang, Iddo Sadeh, Jasper Chen, Matthew Kwong, Naomi Clements

Client:
Erica Buckeridge, Data Scientist, FORM

Team 25 – FeatherAssist Adaptive Rowing Device

Project Description:
Cerebral palsy is a neurological condition affecting movement and coordination, making physical activities more challenging. Rowing is a valuable sport for youth with cerebral palsy due to its repetitive and non-weight-bearing nature, improving the strength and overall well-being of participants. However, rotating the oar between feathered (blade parallel to the water) and squared (blade perpendicular to the water) positions during the rowing stroke can be difficult for individuals with limited fine motor control of the wrist. This difficulty leads to disruptions in performance, which reduces enjoyment and long-term engagement.

The FeatherAssist adaptive device makes use of the interaction between a custom oarlock with a sliding pin system and a custom oar sleeve to convert the fine motor skill of feathering into a gross motor action. As the rower moves the oar vertically in and out of the water —a motion already integral to the rowing stroke— the pin travels along a helical notch on the sleeve, causing the blade to rotate accordingly. This design eliminates the need for the wrist torque input and ensures the blade is reliably squared or feathered during the appropriate phases of the stroke, increasing the accessibility of rowing for athletes with limited motor control.

Team Members:
Jason Fu, Isaac Ronning, Neel Soni, Annika Sutton, Emma Topp

Client:
Dr. Tim Bhatnagar, PhD, BEng, BSc, MASc, Director – The Motion Lab, BC Children’s Hospital