Motion
Arm Sleeve
ROLE | Industrial Designer, R&D Lead
ORGANIZATION | Nextiles, Inc.
TEAM | Chi-Hao Chiang, George Sun, Robert Lindo
YEAR | 2023
CONTRIBUTION | Design Research, Tech Pack & Pattern Design, Prototyping, Conducting Validation Experiments, Coding Data Visualization & Analysis, Design for Manufacturing, Supply Chain Management
The Nextiles Motion Arm Sleeve, featuring advanced fabric-based force sensors and the Gen 2 Module, delivers real-time insights to enhance arm performance and prevent injuries across a range of sports and activities.
By integrating the sensor with IMUs and pairing with the Nextiles app, the sleeve provides precise tracking and quantification of arm movements to empower athletes and coaches with actionable metrics—including elbow force, velocity, torque, and a personalized intensity index—offering a comprehensive profile for every motion.
Trusted by over 1,000 athletes, including clients from MLB, Connected Performance, Wake Forest University, and Top Tier Baseball, the sleeve has become an essential tool for professional and collegiate teams seeking to optimize performance management.
Force Sensor Validation
The embedded force sensor is specifically designed to capture the ADC values associated with various elbow movements, allowing for a deeper understanding of the diverse activity profiles related to these motions.
The plot visually represents the distinctive signal profiles observed during elbow bending at an angle of 90 degrees, maximal bending angle, as well as the unique pitching motion, which is characterized by a prominent spike followed by a smaller, less intense spike.
