The graphene t-shirt runs at We Run Rome 2019

The Sapienza project (lead partner), UCBM, Sant'Anna di Pisa, University of Pisa, Don Gnocchi Foundation and Inail (financier) offers a life-saving perspective for accidents in the workplace

December 18, 2019 - Thanks to an intelligent T-shirt with a very high technological content, Atleticom We Run Rome becomes an open-air laboratory. For the entire duration of the running event that closes 2019 in Rome, three athletes will wear as many prototypes of sensorized T-shirt through which it will be possible to control the progress of their breathing and the cadence of the step by monitoring the movements of the rib cage and collecting them in real time through a data collection and processing system.

Scientific research thus arrives within a sporting event with the aim of providing athletes with information on performance and scientists with the aim of implementing a system, currently being perfected, to improve safety in the workplace.

Thanks to the collaboration between Inail, the Biomedical Measurements and Instrumentation Research Unit and NEXT lab ofUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, together with the Department of Astronautical, Electrical and Energy Engineering of Sapienza University, which coordinates the project, “Sense-Risc” aims to bring together for the first time in a single wearable system numerous sensors, so as to make possible a multi-parametric analysis (physiological and environmental data) capable of evaluating the condition of both the worker and the athlete. The ultimate goal is to be alerted in real time when one finds oneself in a physical condition that exposes one to the risk of injury.

A unique opportunity for the three athletes who were the first to voluntarily respond to the organizers' call to learn more about their physical condition, as well as for the researchers of the three institutions involved who will be able to test their sensors outside the laboratories in a particularly challenging scenario such as the urban one of running, characterized by complex conditions, comparable to those of working environments such as offices and factories.

In the t-shirt worn by the three athletes participating in the WRR'19, the sensors were integrated by Sapienza researchers led by Professor Maria Sabrina Sarto with sophisticated deposition techniques in a sensitive layer made up of graphene-based nanomaterials which will allow detection during the race breathing rate and walking rate. The researchers of the Bio-Medico Campus, coordinated by professor Emiliano Schena, they took care of the electronics capable of processing the signal transmitted by the sensors and the algorithms that allow the two parameters of the athlete to be calculated along the entire course of the race. The two-year project started in 2019 and aims to create a system that can be used in the workplace in 2021.

"Our involvement in this project - underlines the president of Inail, Franco Bettoni - is the result of the awareness that research plays a strategic role not only for the rehabilitation and social reintegration of our patients, but also for achieving our institutional mission of protection of the health and safety of workers. The development of high-tech solutions such as the one that will be tested during the event on 31 December, capable of detecting dangerous situations in real time so as to allow for the immediate adoption of adequate countermeasures, can in fact significantly affect accident prevention at work".

“Together with colleagues from the Biomedical Measurements and Instrumentation group of the Bio-Medico Campus, we have developed an acquisition system and a sophisticated algorithm that allows us to estimate the respiratory rate starting from signals integrated into an "intelligent" t-shirt – explains the professor Emiliano Schena - The system also allows you to relate respiratory activity to the pace kept by the athlete during the entire We Run Rome route. We are very happy to be able to carry out our experiments in this challenging context such as a ten kilometer run in the heart of Rome and we believe that devices such as smart shirts could become tools of daily use for athletes, patients and workers capable of supporting and improving their everyday life."

“The Sense Risc project - explains Professor Maria Sabrina Sarto - responds to an important challenge: that of developing an intelligent, highly wearable and comfortable T-shirt, at low cost, which detects the worker's exposure to risk, combining physiological and characteristics of the specific workplace. All monitored through an IoT system and controllable via smartwatch. The sensing technique developed by the Sapienza nanotechnology and electromagnetic compatibility research group is based on the creation of an innovative technical fabric, functionalized with nanomaterials containing graphene, washable, highly wearable and sensitive. The technology is available and cheap."