AME 28491/38491/48491: Sports Biomechanics Research

The main purpose of this research project is to collect data from NCAA/club/dorm athletes at Notre Dame while they perform typical movements related to their sports. Students will utilize an XSens Awinda IMU-based motion capture system (https://www.movella.com/products/motion-capture/xsens-mvn-awinda) to collect kinematic data from the subjects (such as segment positions/velocities/accelerations or joint angles/velocities/accelerations). This system allows us to "take the laboratory out into the field" and collect data while athletes are actually throwing, running, kicking, catching, hitting, etc...

Specific student tasks include but are not limited to:

• Completing CITI certification to work with human subjects.
• Training on the XSens Awinda and DOT systems.
• Meeting with subjects to go over the study and the consent form.
• System set-up and subject preparation on the day of data acquisition (includes subject specific calibration of the virtual avatar).
• Data acquisition and processing.
• Data analysis (includes creation of custom computer code to help automate the analysis).
• Study dissemination (writing conference abstracts, presenting at a poster or podium session, creating How-To Guides for future students, etc...).
• Weekly group meetings with the faculty advisor and other research students.

Note that it is preferred for students to take 1 credit per semester for 3 semesters (or more) in order to guarantee intellectual continuity within the project, but students may take up to 3 credits in a single semester when necessary (they will just have to do much more than the other research students).