Motion
Knee Sleeve
ROLE | Industrial Designer, R&D & Product Lead
ORGANIZATION | Nextiles, Inc.
TEAM | Chi-Hao Chiang, George Sun, Robert Lindo
YEAR | 2024
CONTRIBUTION | Design Research, Tech Pack & Pattern Design, Prototyping, Conducting Validation Experiments, Coding Data Visualization & Analysis, Design for Manufacturing, Supply Chain Management
The Nextiles Motion Knee Sleeve, equipped with advanced fabric-based force sensors and the Gen 2 Module, tracks knee load and lower limb activity to monitor strain and support injury prevention.
By measuring precise Newtonian loads and integrating with 9 DoF sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer), the sleeve calculates knee torque and bend velocity, capturing the full kinematic chain of movements like walking, kicking, or jumping.
Ideal for trainers, physical therapists, and health-conscious individuals, it offers actionable insights into workout load, injury prevention, and performance optimization.
Force Sensor + IMU Validation
Kick
The plots above show the signals captured by each sensor (accelerometer, gyroscope magnetometer) for kicking.
The value changes of the accelerations (ax, ay, az), the gyrations (gx, gy, gz) and the ADC deliver a clear profile of kicking in three different strengths.
Squat
The same correlations are shown in the plots above for squatting as well.
The signal changes captured by the magnetometer depict the location change of the Gen 2 Module in the space.
Countermovement Jump
For counter-movement jumps, the sensor effectively captures knee bending differences, displaying distinct spikes in ADC values during the concentric phase and landing phase.
