Not everyone can afford to hire a personal trainer. And let’s be honest, learning exercises from YouTube or the gym regulars isn’t exactly foolproof. We need a solution that is both affordable and accurate.
A research group at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN), led by Dr Biswajit Saha, has a solution. He created a bendy wearable sensor that works in the gym and for sports like tennis and swimming.
How does the patch read your movements?
The patch sits on key parts of your body and flexes as you move, changing its electrical resistance and turning your movement into a signal. Your phone receives it over Bluetooth, and a machine-learning model matches it against reference data from trainers, coaches, and state- and national-level athletes.
The model checks how fast, how forcefully, and how evenly you perform each rep. Since no two bodies move alike and fatigue changes how you lift, the real task is separating harmless variations from actual bad form.
Is this the end of personal trainers?
The device cannot replace personal trainer, at least not in its current form. The patch is meant to work alongside them, backing up their judgement with real data.
Right now, 50 gym-goers are wearing it during weight and strength sessions, while 30 trainees are using it for tennis, swimming, and more. The prototype has reached Technology Readiness Level 5, and a patent application is underway.
The results haven’t been published, and the team is still hunting for industry and government partners to turn the prototype into a product. If they pull it off, you could have a personal form coach for every solo gym session.
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