Incorporating End-User Feedback in the Development and Validation of a Smart Textile for assessing Sports Training and Performance

Objectives: The aims of the research project were to explore the need and desire of a new sport wearable within applied practice by creating dialogue with the end-users. Furthermore, the research project sets out to quantify the reliability and validity a new sports wearable, KiTT (Knitted intelligent Textile Tracker), against the current gold-standard three-dimensional motion-analysis counter-part.
Methods: Study 1 will utilise semi-structured interviews to create dialogue between the researcher and end-users. This will help provide an image into the current use of technology within applied practice. Furthermore, study 2 will capture and calculate the relative knee angles from KiTT’s raw resistance, and compare the results to that of Vicon, where reliability and validity will be assessed; this is imperative before task-specific research.
Results: Study 1 identified a need, and requirement for new sport wearables, specifically in the form of e-textiles. This would enable end-users to adopt technology into their work, potentially enhancing their output. In addition, study 2 suggests that KiTT serves as a valid and reliable tool at recording relative knee angle across five commonly used sporting exercises, with high degrees of accuracy.
Conclusion: End-users stated a need and requirement for technology such as KiTT to be created for adoption within their practice. Current systems are often inaccessible and can lead to performance losses. KiTT serves as a valid alternative to motion-capture, whilst offering more benefits to the user (cost-friendly, easy to use, and portable). When investigating an individual’s relative knee angle, KiTT should be considered especially in specific testing conditions.