NASA x PRATT
Intertial Measurement Unit Suit for Spaceflight
Designed in collaboration with Simon You and Maseo Velasquez for the TCC (Technology Collaboration Center) 2023 Wearables workshop and exhibited at NASA JSC's Gilruth Center in Houston, TX
PROCESS BOOK
DESIGN BRIEF
NASA needs an IMU motion tracking system to use during workouts on the ARED that can be quickly donned and doffed- by individual astronauts while ensuring comfortable and accurate sensor placement for 2+ hour workouts.
During the course of this project, we were challenged to develop a method and prototype to minimize IMU movement relatve to body segments, mitigating shifting due to inclusion of a fabric body suit. Our team responded by marrying technology targeting health and fitness with a garment that keeps the sensors in place during spaceflight exercise.
The result of our research, concept development and prototyping is a sensor harness that secures sensors to the body in order to track astronauts exercises while comfortably accommodating different body sizes.
The body in Space
Astronauts need to track their body motion with IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) sensors while exercising on the International Space Station (ISS) to monitor their movements and ensure that they perform the exercises correctly. This is important because both the lack of gravity in the ISS, as well as the vibration isolation platform (VIS) supporting exercise equipment can cause changes in posture, balance, and range of motion; which can influence the effectiveness of the exercises and potentially cause injury
The objective of this project was to design an efficient IMU motion tracking system that can be worn by astronauts while exercising on the International Space Station. This system should reduce IMU don/doff times, prevent the sensors from shifting during exercise, and simplify the IMU charging procedure.
To read more on this project, please refer to the final presentation as exhibited at the Gilruth Center, design brief, and research paper above. This project was made possible thanks to Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman, as well as Kaitlin Lostroscio, who mentored us and helped test our suits perfomance with motion tracking technology.