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2023  Wearables Workshop & University Challenge

April 24-25, 2023 at NASA JSC's Gilruth Center in Houston, TX

This event is a unique opportunity to collaborate across disciplines with a common interest in Wearable Technology. We are bringing together innovators — from space suit engineers to hand bag designers and everyone in between. Our goal is to engage industry, government, and academic researchers to identify and solve the greatest challenge in Wearable Technology today.   

Day 1:   University Challenge

University teams pitch their solutions to industry-identified wearables challenges. See Challenge Statments below.   

Day 2:  Interactive Workshops

Open panel discussions on needs and drivers, guest presentations from field experts and startups, plus networking mixers. 

Full agenda TBA.   

Get Involved

Purchase your event ticket now, and see below for more ways to engage!

University Challenge Team

Teams of up to six undergraduate and/or graduate students may respond to an industry-identified challenges (see below). Interested teams should contact info@techcollaboration.center to secure their position for the Challenge Day. There are limited slots for each challenge, which will be reserved on a first-come first-serve basis. The deadline to register your challenge response team via email is February 24, 2023. The TCC will facilitate introductions between the team and the challenge-submitting organization. Teams will have the Spring 2023 semester to develop their solution with periodic interactions with the challenge sponsor. At least one representative from the team should attend the workshop in Houston in April to present the team's solution.      

Industry Challenge Sponsor

The priority deadline for challenge submissions has passed. However, if you have a challenge you strongly feel would be an asset to this year's program, please contact info@techcollaboration.center as soon as possible. Engineers working on industry-relevant technology may submit a Wearables Challenge. These challenge statements should be succinct and feasible to address given a three-month timeframe. Material contributions and intellectual property should be handled directly with the responding teams. Please contact the TCC for the Challenge submission form.      

Guest Presenter or Panelist

Wearable Technology subject matter experts are welcome to apply to give a presentation. Please submit a brief abstract to info@techcollaboration.center by March 24, 2023. Please indicate your preference for a 15-minute presentation, 45-minute presentation, or proposed panel discussion. We are broadly defining wearable technology, and priority will be given to presentations with cross-industry applications.

Technology Showcase

Organizations with a unique wearable technology are welcome to apply to give a technology demonstration. Please send a brief description to info@techcollaboration.center by March 24, 2023. Please indicate your preference for a 15-minute demo and or vendor booth at the workshop, or a 45-minute TCC-Live podcast-style interview (to be conducted on a separate date).  We are broadly defining wearable technology, and priority will be given to those with cross-industry applications.

Challenge Statements  

Challenge statements were collected from industry-leading experts. For more details, including design considerations, materials, and deliverables, contact the TCC at info@techcollaboration.center.

Wetness Sensing Garment

Background: The Challenge-submitting organization makes a range of disposable absorbent incontinence garments and pads for children and adults. While disposable hygiene products are more common, reusable absorbent incontinence garments are becoming more available, particularly for light bladder leakage. In addition to sustainability benefits, reusable absorbent garments offer the potential to incorporate smart diagnostic technologies which could inform consumers or health professionals around need to change or even health state of care recipients in ways that could be more difficult to incorporate into disposable variants. Understanding how to incorporate sensor components into a reusable garment will be key to enabling those advanced diagnostic opportunities.

Problem Statement & Goals: We would like the team to develop a reusable light incontinence garment with an integrated wetness sensor with potential to be connected to a remote monitoring system. In particular, we would like to understand the best approaches to integrate the electronic elements for wetness sensing into a reusable garment in a way that is unobtrusive to the wearer, durable enough for washing for throughout the lifetime of the garment, and compatible with manufacturing approaches.

IMU Suit Enhancement for Spaceflight

Background: Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) are a prospective technology for full-body tracking of crew members during exercise on the International Space Station (ISS). Commercial systems provide for small sized, wireless IMUs that are convenient for placing on body segments of interest. It is of interest to contain these IMUs with a body suit (e.g., long sleeve top and long pants) to reduce crew member time for donning upwards of 17 IMUs. However, fabric movement relative to the body is a concern for these types of suits (shifting of IMUs is undesirable as IMUs should ideally remain fixed relative to the object being tracked). Furthermore, options are sometimes unsecure (e.g., IMUs could be easily snagged and come off the suit), or overly-secured to where removal for charging purposes or stowage could be time consuming.

Problem Statement & Goals: Develop a method & prototype to minimize IMU movement relative to body segments, mitigating shifting due to inclusion of a fabric body suit. IMUs should remain secure throughout exercise motions and small bumps against other body segments or hardware. Consider locations of upper arm, lower arm, torso, upper leg, lower leg, and even head, shoes, etc. The solution can be internal, external, or inherent to a body suit. Note: The solution may also omit the use of a body suit if the total crew time of use remains less than if individual straps were used.

Portable Soft Goods Kit for Long Duration Missions

Background: As human spaceflight exploration expands to the Moon and Mars, sustainability and logistics reduction becomes more important. If a human mission is in transit to Mars or on the surface, the crew can’t request a replacement or repair. The crew will have to do it. In previous missions there has not been a dedicated soft goods repair capability. There most lightly will be a 3-d printer for solid parts. Soft goods and inflatable modules will also be a part of long duration missions.

Problem Statment & Goals: The problem is that there is no capability to support soft goods repairs for wearable equipment, clothing, exercise equipment, or inflatable modules on long duration missions. The task is to design a portable soft goods kit that can be used to repair or make soft goods as needed. Examples are repairs to exercise equipment soft goods, wearable soft goods repairs, special sound absorbing blanket for unexpected noisy equipment, custom size patches for the inflatable module, and additional soft handholds or exit signs for the inflatable module.

Smart Sustainable Bag

Background: The challenge-submitting organization has created a smart unisex bag/diaper bag designed exclusively to help women and men who struggle every day with normal use of their handbag or diaper bag when attempting to view the contents at a low light level. It integrates today’s wearable technology solutions into a high-end, unique fashion product and leverages the demand for a unique handbag. It is surmised that the bag would also be useful for long-duration space missions, providing a convenient way for astronauts or travellers to easily view the contents of bags in low light-level conditions.

Problem Statement & Goals: Assistance is needed in efficiently integrating the ARDUINO LED light-level and colour change detected by sensors that’s connecting to an App. This App will allow the user to manage the light and turn it on/off. This will enable the user to find the bag and items in the interior of the bag. The bag shall adhere to all ISO and consumer UL safety standards. We also need help with integrating the various electrical/electronic components into the bag to ensure that the system is user-friendly and operates safely. The bag system shall have a battery capable of charging a modern smartphone at least two times.

Lunar Dust Mitigating and Updated EVA Cuff Checklist

Background:According of the EVA Tools and Equipment Reference Book, the Cuff Checklist is a set of reference cards which are bound and attached to a wristband. The reference cards are approximately 4” x 5” in size and contain procedures and reference information for performing EVA tasks. The cuff checklist is completely passive and has no battery power. The cuff checklist is worn on the left elbow of the spacesuit.

Problem Statement & Goals: The cuff checklist has been used successfully for over 50 years of NASA spacewalks but without any major changes. It was used during the last Apollo spacewalks but it did not have any lunar dust mitigating features. A goal is to update the cuff checklist with dust mitigating features, such as a dust proof cover and wrist band. Any improvements in handling the checklist cards or other creative features would be a plus.

Softgoods Handrail for Inflatable Habitat

Background: Inflatable structures are being designed as habitats for future deep space stations. These structures are made of high strength materials that are flexible and packed during launch, then inflated and rigidized in space – much like packing up an air mattress and inflating it when needed.

Problem Statement & Goals: To accommodate crew movement inside an inflatable habitat, we need handrails for the crew to grab onto and move their bodies. Metallic handrails are located all over the ISS both inside and outside, but are made of metal tubes and attached to the metal structures with bolts. For an inflatable, we need a handrail that can be attached to the fabric (likely stitched) and packed with the material during launch. The handrail that you come up with should be fully non-metallic and be able to be packaged or folded into a small space, then opened or deployed before use.

Measuring Relative Motion and Proximity of the Human Body Within the Space Suit

Background: Pressurized space suits can cause fatigue and injury to astronauts during Extravehicular Activity (EVA) or spacewalks as they require significant metabolic expenditure. Space suited motion is different from natural biomechanical movement due to joints bearings and soft goods that limit mobility. Thus, astronauts may experience a variety of musculoskeletal and surface injuries that are caused by impact and contact against the suit during movement. The biomechanics and the suited-related contacts the astronaut experiences during EVA are critical to understanding what factors can lead to injury. While external space suit motion has been well-researched, very little is known about how the astronauts move and interact within the spacesuit. The space suit prevents most traditional evaluation techniques due to clearance and material constraints. Therefore, a wearable sensor system to determine human motion relative to the spacesuit and proximity of the suit to the body during functional tasks is needed. Data collected from this sensor system will be used to better understand repetitive spacesuit-body contacts, biomechanics within the suit, and injury risks.

Problem Statement & Goals: Develop a solution for measuring the motion of a person relative to a spacesuit and the distance between the person and the inside of the spacesuit during dynamic tasks.

Breath Sensing

Background: When it comes to collecting data on human health and performance, there are a variety of biometrics that can be analyzed such as heart rate, pupillometry, etc. One often underutilized or difficult aspect of human physiology to characterize is breath. Specifically, things such as breathing frequency, tidal volume, topography, nasal/mouth, etc. These biometrics on breath can give us insight into the state of a human’s overall health, autonomic nervous system, metabolic demand, etc.

Problem Statement & Goals: 1) A sensor for reliably detecting key features of breath in different scenarios (e.g., standing, sitting, walking, running) is needed. Potential examples: capacitive stretch sensor, acoustic sensor, cameras, etc. 2) Algorithms for specific sensors are needed for reliably and accurately identifying key features of breath. Any team can target 1), 2), or both. Note: breath data sets generated from an existing sensor can be provided to assist with 2).

Shoulder Dynamics

Background: Our organization is focused on developing innovative technologies for use in space exploration and research. One challenge we are currently facing is understanding the impact of space suit design on the range of motion (ROM) and overall performance of crew members. To address this challenge, we are seeking a team to develop an initial AI algorithm and sensor stack to provide high-fidelity modeling of a crew member's shoulder girdle in both un-suited and suited environments. This modeling will be used to inquiry into shoulder health, signature movements, and overall performance.

Problem Statement & Goals: The main problem we are trying to solve is understanding the impact of space suit design on the ROM and performance of crew members. Specifically, we want to understand how the range of motion of crew members is impacted by the presence of the space suit joint designs, and how this may vary between different suit designs. We also want to compare the movements of crew members in shirt-sleeve or un-suited scenarios to those in suited scenarios, in order to better classify the impacts of the suit on skill, ROM, and mission success.

Fitness Game Experience for Portable Knee Dynamometer

Background: Our organization is focused on developing exosuit technology to be used as both an exercise input tool and a human-state monitor. We are seeking to develop a gamified, baseline experience for our portable knee dynamometer (PKD), a leg-based exo-suit that operates like the BioDex dyno, using common XR (VR or AR) HMDs such as Hololens2, Quest, Vive, or Valve. The gamification should be offered up in VR/AR while taking inputs from the PKD and controlling outputs to match the expected user experience. The goal is to identify and monitor performance parameters such as speed, acceleration, jerk, and position of the user's leg as it operates the PKD

Problem Statement & Goals: The problem we are seeking to address is the development of a gamified, baseline experience for our PKD exo-suit that can be used as both an exercise input tool and a human-state monitor. The goal is to create a game that can monitor subtle changes in baseline performance while also providing an engaging and immersive experience for the user.

Developing a Simple Programmable Wearable Display

Background: Under any given operational task, it is common for a user to get overloaded with information if it can only be presented in the audial and visual realm. Alternative display mechanisms, such as those that are haptic, kinesthetic, thermal, or involve electric stimulation (specifically galvanic vestibular stimulation) might increase the effectiveness in which we convey information to users.

Problem Statement & Goals: There is a lack of access to an easily programmable, wireless, wearable display that involves mechanisms that are not audial/visual, for the purpose of human research and technology. Goal 1: Produce a prototype of a wearable display that may use one of the alternative mechanisms mentioned above to convey information to a human user. Goal 2: Provide a software API that would allow engineers to easily program the device for custom signaling to the user in real time.

Grip and Push Force Wearable

Background: The Challenge-submitting organization develops, manufactures, and services commercial airplanes, defense products, and space systems for customers in more than 150 countries. As a top U.S. exporter, the company leverages the talents of a global supplier base to advance economic opportunity, sustainability, and community impact. Boeing’s diverse team is committed to innovating for the future, leading with sustainability, and cultivating a culture based on the company’s core values of safety, quality, and integrity. Similar to other physically intensive and repetitive environments, manufacturing of aerospace products can be risk prone to workers for musculoskeletal injuries that are ergonomic in nature. To that end, ergonomics sciences and organizations are leveraging the latest technologies and pushing the boundaries to create new capabilities.

Problem Statement & Goals: Physical ergonomics takes into account risk factors such as force/exertion, body posture, risk exposure frequency/repetition and overall risk exposure duration. This particular study looks to evaluate the potential for a hand worn measurement device that can capture either hand grip and/or push force. The collection of this information would then be relayed to a data collection device that ergonomists and safety subject matter experts can review for worker risk.

Body Joint Motion Capture Wearable

Background: The Challenge-submitting organization develops, manufactures, and services commercial airplanes, defense products, and space systems for customers in more than 150 countries. As a top U.S. exporter, the company leverages the talents of a global supplier base to advance economic opportunity, sustainability, and community impact. Boeing’s diverse team is committed to innovating for the future, leading with sustainability, and cultivating a culture based on the company’s core values of safety, quality, and integrity. Similar to other physically intensive and repetitive environments, manufacturing of aerospace products can be risk prone to workers for musculoskeletal injuries that are ergonomic in nature. To that end, ergonomics sciences and organizations are leveraging the latest technologies and pushing the boundaries to create what may not be available.

Problem Statement & Goals: Physical ergonomics takes into account risk factors such as force/exertion, body posture, risk exposure frequency/repetition and overall risk exposure duration. This particular study looks to evaluate the potential for motion capture measurement of body joint angles of the torso, neck, shoulder, elbow, and wrist using wearable garments. The collection of this information would then be relayed to a data collection device that ergonomists and safety subject matter experts can review for worker risk. This type of garment could potentially be worn by workers in both high risk environments where traditional electronics are limited (e.g., C1D1/C1D2) or in highly occluded environments where cameras might not be able to capture the full view of the body.

Join Us

Contact Us to sponsor this event!

Through the Strategic Challenge Service, the TCC helps organizations sharing major technology challenges form new collaboration partnerships, likely across technology sectors.

The TCC will facilitate formation of the partnership, and then help the partnership build momentum towards solving the technology problems and bringing the solutions to market. The details of this program are under development by the Collaboration Committee formed by the TCC’s Board of Directors.

If your organization has major technology challenges, shared with other organizations, and you’re interested in forming a partnership to work together on solving these challenges and bringing the solutions to market, possibly across multiple technology sectors or industries, then contact the TCC for the current status of this program and get involved in the selection of the first pilot projects.

The TCC is planning to explore strategic challenges in the following areas:

StrategicTheme Challenges

IMAGING TECHNOLOGY

Theme Lead: Sudhir Pai
The importance of imaging technologies has been gaining prominence over the last few decades and particularly spectral imaging, which augments the spatial information of spectroscopy, enabling a broader discovery and diagnostic capability. The applications of these technologies are growing rapidly in a wide array of industries as their value proposition becomes more evident. The independent advances in these industries provide an opportunity to share knowledge and experience across disciplines for mutual benefit to all. For example, MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) principles are used in the life sciences to better understand the raw findings of an x-ray image and are used in the energy industry to better understand the geophysical, geological and petrophysical aspects of rocks for better hydrocarbon exploration and production. Hyperspectral and multi-spectral imaging technologies are being used to explore biophysical processes in cancer cells, provide crucial information for precision agriculture, and provide a wealth of scientific and actionable knowledge on land usage, ocean conditions and air quality from space.

PLATFORM OF THE FUTURE

Content is on the way

GREENHOUSE GAS MITIGATION

Content is on the way

AUTOMATION

Content is on the way

WATER QUALITY

Theme Lead: David Horsup
Water is essential for life on our planet. It is generally taken for granted in the developed world, however access to fresh water is becoming extremely limited in many countries, including here in the US. Water usage has increased at more than twice the rate of population growth in the last century, and an increasing number of regions are reaching the limit at which water services can be sustainably delivered. Essentially, demographic growth and economic development are putting unprecedented pressure on our finite water resources. By 2025, 1.8 billion people are expected to be living in countries or regions with “absolute” water scarcity (Greater than 500 m3 per year per capita), and two-thirds of the world population could be under “stress” conditions (between 500 and 1000 m3 per year per capita)

AI/VR/ROBOTICS

Content is on the way

WEARABLE TECHNOLOGIES

Content is on the way

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The Technology Collaboration Center is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit formed as a partnership between the NASA Johnson Space Center, industry and universities, solving challenging technology problems through innovative solutions by connecting collaboration partners from across technology sectors

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