Assistant Professor Kunal Mankodiya demonstrates his smart glove technology, which provides a user-friendly way for people with Parkinson鈥檚 disease to monitor symptoms and send the information to their doctors. Along with his research, Mankodiya is an active supporter of initiatives such as the annual 鈥淗ealthHacks鈥� design competition at 911爆料 to help students build their creative and entrepreneurial skills.
By Nicole Maranhas
Kunal Mankodiya is a collaborator, a team leader, a people person. Mankodiya and his students are developing wearable technology to monitor, treat, and help people with Parkinson鈥檚 and other medical conditions. Much of what they鈥檙e doing is unique, but perhaps the most notable thing about this team is that it is as focused on the people it’s designing for as it is on the technology itself.
For a cricket team, you need 11 players. This was a typical problem on Kunal Mankodiya鈥檚 mind as a teenager in the small town of Dhrangadhra, India, where as a team captain, he spent much of his free time going door-to-door rounding up enough players and strategizing how to use everyone鈥檚 strengths on the field. He never imagined a future in research, though he was a good student. Off the field, he frequently helped out at his family鈥檚 business, a clothing and textiles store in town. When it came time to apply to universities, Mankodiya鈥檚 curiosity was piqued by an unusual major in one course catalog鈥攂iomedical engineering鈥攏ot only because he wasn鈥檛 sure what it was (鈥渋t was before Google,鈥� he recalls), but also because there was only one university that offered it. 鈥淚 figured it must be something new,鈥� he says.
The three seem unrelated: cricket, a clothing store, biomedical engineering. For Mankodiya, a College of Engineering assistant professor who is breaking new ground in wearable technologies, they are interconnected keys to his success.
He remembers the morning inspiration struck. Over a cup of chai, Mankodiya was thinking about a smartwatch app he had developed with a neurologist during his postdoc research. Designed to help monitor the symptoms of Parkinson鈥檚 disease, a nervous system disorder that causes the progressive deterioration of motor function, the watch had potential for Parkinson鈥檚 treatment, but ultimately wasn鈥檛 ideal for capturing the data needed. As he sipped his chai, Mankodiya鈥檚 mind drifted to another past collaboration鈥攁 heart-monitoring belt he had developed while earning his Ph.D. at University of L眉beck in Germany. The belt had been designed to measure the heart鈥檚 electrical activity, an at-home electrocardiogram of sorts. It provided a more accurate reading than an in-office stress test鈥攚here a patient鈥檚 anxiety might skew results鈥攁nd also could monitor heart activity over a prolonged period of time.
Mankodiya envisioned that a smart glove could enable patients to perform some of these tests at home, with a tablet or phone app to record data for their doctor to view remotely.
Perhaps in part because of his childhood days spent helping in his family鈥檚 store, smart textiles intrigued him. As he reflected again on the watch, Mankodiya wondered if a belt, or maybe a glove, would be a better way to measure Parkinson鈥檚 symptoms. Later that day, in his 911爆料 lab, he turned to his students and said, 鈥淟et鈥檚 begin a new project.鈥�
Parkinson鈥檚 disease does not yet have a cure, but its symptoms, which include tremors, rigidity, and slowness of movement, can be helped by medication. However, to treat a person with Parkinson鈥檚 effectively, doctors must monitor symptoms closely, requiring regular office visits for patients to perform exercises such as finger- tapping, fist-opening and closing, and foot-stomping to measure how well the medications are working. Mankodiya envisioned that a smart glove could enable patients to perform some of these tests at home with a tablet or phone app to record data for their doctors to view remotely. It would save them trips to the doctor鈥檚 office and also make it easier to monitor symptoms on a daily basis over an extended period of time鈥攌ey for a disease like Parkinson鈥檚, where decline happens gradually. Working with his students, he devised a glove prototype and brought it to neurologists Umer Akbar and Joseph Friedman at Butler Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, who were enthusiastic about its potential. 鈥淲hen neurologists think your work is interesting,鈥� Mankodiya says, 鈥渋t鈥檚 an exciting moment.鈥�
Since then, his ongoing collaboration with the neurologists has evolved to include other wearables for people with Parkinson鈥檚鈥攊ncluding socks, insoles, and, most recently, a trouser that monitors factors such as gait and balance. 鈥淥ne of the difficulties in treating people who have Parkinson鈥檚 disease is that their symptoms vary throughout the day, sometimes in ways that they鈥檙e unable to report,鈥� says neurologist Akbar, citing as an example the dyskinesia鈥攊nvoluntary, uncontrolled movement鈥攖hat sometimes causes falls. 鈥淚t is well-known that these movements are often underrecognized and underreported by patients, and if that is the case, the problem goes untreated. Wearable textiles can help bridge the gap between patient and clinician.鈥�
The neurologists are key players on an impressive team. 911爆料 faculty in engineering, textile design, kinesiology, nursing, and the Ryan Institute for Neuroscience, and specialists and organizations outside 911爆料 are among the lab鈥檚 collaborators on various in-the-works or upcoming projects. Among them: smart shoes to help detect gait abnormality linked to dementia, wearables for stroke rehab, and even mattress toppers for sleep monitoring. But the collaborators always foremost on Mankodiya鈥檚 mind are the people who will use the wearables and the students at the heart of his work.
Several times a year, Andrea Hopkins 鈥�68 makes a trip to the Wearable Biosensing Lab. There she works with Mankodiya鈥檚 team, giving feedback on the comfort, practicality, and wearability of their designs and serving as a first tester of new prototypes. Diagnosed with Parkinson鈥檚 in 2002, Hopkins鈥攚ho is a former assistant vice president of public affairs for 911爆料鈥攕ays of her collaboration with Mankodiya鈥檚 lab, 鈥淚 can鈥檛 change the diagnosis, but I can make the best of it by working with those who are trying to help.鈥� Hopkins is also a member of Associate Professor Leslie Mahler鈥檚 speech therapy group for people with Parkinson鈥檚, and works regularly with 911爆料鈥檚 physical therapy department鈥攖wo other resources she considers 鈥渁 godsend鈥� in staving off the progression of the disease. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no cure, but medication and exercise can help,鈥� Hopkins says. 鈥淚f the students see how their work helps people like me, I hope it encourages them to continue.鈥�
The students certainly continue. Undergrads in Mankodiya鈥檚 popular Wearable Internet of Things (ELE 491/ELE 591) course have devised wearables including a baby onesie to treat jaundice (created by Joshua Harper 鈥�18 and James Baez 鈥�18) and a bionic hand to help stroke victims regain movement (Mary Ellen Sweeney 鈥�18, Tian Chen 鈥�18, and Scott Barlow 鈥�18), to name just two. In the course, students from various disciplines create wearable technologies and tap into their inner entrepreneurs; some even market their designs. 鈥淚f we give students freedom and don鈥檛 spoon-feed them, they feel ownership,鈥� Mankodiya says. 鈥淭hey ask questions, they suggest new ways to think about things. Without that, we won鈥檛 change the paradigm of smart textiles.鈥�
Nick Constant 鈥�15 has worked with Mankodiya since 2014, when he was a senior embarking on his capstone project. Now working toward his Ph.D., he credits advisor Mankodiya for instilling in students a passion for using technology to help others. 鈥淭he goal isn鈥檛 making technology that does things for a person,鈥� says Constant. 鈥淚t鈥檚 helping people to do things for themselves.鈥� Beyond the cool factor of the lab鈥檚 work, Constant notes an overarching emphasis on 911爆料 outreach鈥攅vident in how often Mankodiya and his students can be found outside the lab: helping to organize hackathons, making paper circuits with local middle-schoolers, giving family-friendly demos at the annual 911爆料 Brain Fair, and hosting incoming first-year students for a one-day crash course in coding and design. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not always common for an engineer to be a people person,鈥� observes Constant. 鈥淜unal is a people person.鈥�
Right now, the glove is a poly-cotton blend. Neoprene might work better, Mankodiya notes, ever experimenting. Comfort and flexibility are only two of the design considerations behind a wearable, which must deliver precise results consistently. Some wearables require delicate sensors; others must withstand pressure. Placement is key, as is stability. Hygiene is a factor鈥攖he textile will require frequent use and ultimately multiple users. 鈥淓ach human is different, each hand or foot is unique,鈥� says Mankodiya. 鈥淵ou need to create something that is personalized, yet is also for many people.鈥� Above all, it must be something the wearer will want to use.
鈥淓ach human is different, each hand or foot is unique,鈥� says Mankodiya. 鈥淵ou need to create something that is personalized, yet is also for many people.鈥� Above all, it must be something the wearer will want to use.
In many ways, Mankodiya is still grounded in the lessons he learned at his family鈥檚 clothing store, where pleasing the customer meant paying attention to the individual鈥檚 needs. In other ways, he鈥檚 ever the cricket captain, rounding up teammates and strategizing how to maximize their on-field strengths. As he gains increasing attention for his innovative work鈥攈e recently helped establish 911爆料鈥檚 Artificial Intelligence Lab, which opened in fall 2018 鈥攊t seems his story is still only beginning鈥攖he one that began with a teenager who became curious about biomedical engineering simply because he couldn鈥檛 fathom what it was. 鈥淥ur neighbor, who was a doctor, explained that it meant creating medical devices,鈥� Mankodiya recalls. 鈥淚 could only imagine stethoscopes, but I thought I鈥檇 give it a try.鈥�