By Marc-Antoine Simon, News Correspondent
A group of researchers at Northeastern have developed a shirt they said will change the way fitness buffs exercise.
SQUID is a “smart” workout shirt that fulfills the needs of healthy workout buffs seeking a calorie-burning workout at the gym. The shirt was unveiled in December 2011, but the team of Northeastern students updated their initial prototype and later won a research expo in 2012. If everything goes as planned, the SQUID team hopes to see their shirt on college athletes and fitness addicts in roughly a year.
The shirt has sensors located at strategic areas across the body that allow the T-shirt to monitor muscle output and efficiency during workouts. The piece of wearable technology can also be connected to a smart phone so that it can track biofeedback and progress in real time, according to faculty advisor Mark Sivak. The shirt is named for the box and wires in the group’s prototype, which looked like a torso and tentacles.
“The compression athletic shirt is able to capture and translate electrical signals,” Sivak said, “which are produced as a result of moving muscles, into data.” The data gathered is then sent to the user’s phone or website for further analysis, providing a measured workout as well as a progress chart that helps the user to achieve his or her fitness goals.
Sivak, a creative industries assistant and academic specialist, is finishing his doctorate in interdisciplinary engineering with research focusing on mechatronic rehabilitation devices and games for health. Along with Constantinos Mavroidis, director of biomedical and industrial engineering at Northeastern, Sivak challenged students by giving them the task of creating a health device with a smart phone interface. With the help of both Sivak and Mavroidis, SQUID was born. The entire team included seven Northeastern students. Four students are engineering majors; Trevor Lorden, Adam Morgan, Joseph Sheehan, and Thomas Wilbur. The team also included three graphic design students; Alexandra Aas, Alexandra Moran, and Amy Schaffer.
SQUID is not just for professional athletes but will also benefit amateurs, its creators said, allowing less advanced fitness geeks to fully optimize their time at the gym. The final price of this shirt isn’t set, but Sivak said it will be somewhere between $150 and $300.
Fitness Director Kristen Miller said she thinks that Northeastern students will be interested in the shirt but could also be hesitant of its price.
“The price range might be too high. But we get people from all walks of life coming into the gym,” she said. “I do think it would be a great thing to incorporate into our program, but I’m not sure if Northeastern will do it.”
