3 jockeys run with the smart shirt designed by University researchers
July 10th, 2020 - It will be held on Sunday 12 July at the Capannelle Racecourse on 137th Italian Gallop Derby, this year sponsored byUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma. An important appointment for the world of horse racing which also sees the contribution of the University's research, as well as a presence UCBM through a stand dedicated to the University's training offer and opportunities.
The Laboratory of Measurements and Biomedical Instrumentation of the Departmental Faculty of Engineering of theUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, under the supervision of the professor Emiliano Schena and in collaboration with the Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine unit of the Campus Bio-Medico University Hospital, has developed a smart shirt to monitor the respiratory activity of the jockeys in the race.
The shirt, worn by 3 jockeys during the 137th Gallop derby, is made up of four piezoresistive fabrics which make up the sensors inserted directly into the shirt and connected to a miniaturized electronic board, integrated at chest height. Piezoresistive sensors measure the mechanical movement of the rib cage induced by respiration and transform it into an electrical quantity. During the race, the 4 sensors will record the athletes' breathing activity. From these signals it will be possible to extract information useful for understanding the evolution of respiration during this very intense sporting activity.
The information collected can also be used subsequently to improve the athletic training and analyze the sporting performance of the jockey. But the goal is to arrive, thanks to the experiments on athletes, at everyday use for people. These tools, once put into widespread production, will also have a significant impact on monitoring everyone's health, on the appropriateness of treatment in a clinical setting, improving the quality of life and reducing the economic impact of pathologies that can be managed remotely on the health system.
