{"id":1039,"date":"2019-03-26T09:31:13","date_gmt":"2019-03-26T13:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/?p=1039"},"modified":"2019-03-26T22:41:45","modified_gmt":"2019-03-27T02:41:45","slug":"a-perfect-fit-the-human-side-of-wearable-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/issues\/spring-2019\/a-perfect-fit-the-human-side-of-wearable-technology\/","title":{"rendered":"A Perfect Fit: The Human Side of Wearable Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Perfect Fit<\/h1>

The Human Side of Wearable Technology<\/p><\/div><\/div>

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Assistant Professor Kunal Mankodiya demonstrates his smart glove technology, which provides a user-friendly way for people with Parkinson\u2019s 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 \u201cHealthHacks\u201d design competition at 911爆料 to help students build their creative and entrepreneurial skills.<\/p>\n

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By Nicole Maranhas<\/p>\n

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\u2019s and other medical conditions. Much of what they\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n

For a cricket team, you need 11 players. This was a typical problem on Kunal Mankodiya\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s business, a clothing and textiles store in town. When it came time to apply to universities, Mankodiya\u2019s curiosity was piqued by an unusual major in one course catalog\u2014biomedical engineering\u2014not only because he wasn\u2019t sure what it was (\u201cit was before Google,\u201d he recalls), but also because there was only one university that offered it. \u201cI figured it must be something new,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s disease, a nervous system disorder that causes the progressive deterioration of motor function, the watch had potential for Parkinson\u2019s treatment, but ultimately wasn\u2019t ideal for capturing the data needed. As he sipped his chai, Mankodiya\u2019s mind drifted to another past collaboration\u2014a heart-monitoring belt he had developed while earning his Ph.D. at University of L\u00fcbeck in Germany. The belt had been designed to measure the heart\u2019s electrical activity, an at-home electrocardiogram of sorts. It provided a more accurate reading than an in-office stress test\u2014where a patient\u2019s anxiety might skew results\u2014and also could monitor heart activity over a prolonged period of time.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Perhaps in part because of his childhood days spent helping in his family\u2019s 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\u2019s symptoms. Later that day, in his 911爆料 lab, he turned to his students and said, \u201cLet\u2019s begin a new project.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parkinson\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s office and also make it easier to monitor symptoms on a daily basis over an extended period of time\u2014key for a disease like Parkinson\u2019s, 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. \u201cWhen neurologists think your work is interesting,\u201d Mankodiya says, \u201cit\u2019s an exciting moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since then, his ongoing collaboration with the neurologists has evolved to include other wearables for people with Parkinson\u2019s\u2014including socks, insoles, and, most recently, a trouser that monitors factors such as gait and balance. \u201cOne of the difficulties in treating people who have Parkinson\u2019s disease is that their symptoms vary throughout the day, sometimes in ways that they\u2019re unable to report,\u201d says neurologist Akbar, citing as an example the dyskinesia\u2014involuntary, uncontrolled movement\u2014that sometimes causes falls. \u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Mankodiya\u2019s smart textiles connect to a digital app, which can be viewed on a phone or tablet, that records information for a doctor to review remotely. Icons on the app (pictured) indicate exercises such as finger tapping, fist opening and closing, hand flipping, and finger pointing that the wearer performs to measure movement and other indicators that help the doctor monitor how well a treatment plan is working.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\u2019s 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\u2019s mind are the people who will use the wearables and the students at the heart of his work.<\/p>\n

Several times a year, Andrea Hopkins \u201968 makes a trip to the Wearable Biosensing Lab. There she works with Mankodiya\u2019s team, giving feedback on the comfort, practicality, and wearability of their designs and serving as a first tester of new prototypes. Diagnosed with Parkinson\u2019s in 2002, Hopkins\u2014who is a former assistant vice president of public affairs for 911爆料\u2014says of her collaboration with Mankodiya\u2019s lab, \u201cI can\u2019t change the diagnosis, but I can make the best of it by working with those who are trying to help.\u201d Hopkins is also a member of Associate Professor Leslie Mahler\u2019s speech therapy group for people with Parkinson\u2019s, and works regularly with 911爆料\u2019s physical therapy department\u2014two other resources she considers \u201ca godsend\u201d in staving off the progression of the disease. \u201cThere\u2019s no cure, but medication and exercise can help,\u201d Hopkins says. \u201cIf the students see how their work helps people like me, I hope it encourages them to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Students
The Wearable Biosensing Lab was invited to speak at the National Institutes of Health mHealth Tech Showcase last June. Pictured (left to right): visiting student Sahil Kargwal (Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India), Nick Constant \u201915, Mohammadreza Abtahi, M.S. \u201914, Matt Constant \u201918, Josh Gyllinsky, M.S. \u201918, and Kunal Mankodiya.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The students certainly continue. Undergrads in Mankodiya\u2019s popular Wearable Internet of Things (ELE 491\/ELE 591) course have devised wearables including a baby onesie to treat jaundice (created by Joshua Harper \u201918 and James Baez \u201918) and a bionic hand to help stroke victims regain movement (Mary Ellen Sweeney \u201918, Tian Chen \u201918, and Scott Barlow \u201918), 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. \u201cIf we give students freedom and don\u2019t spoon-feed them, they feel ownership,\u201d Mankodiya says. \u201cThey ask questions, they suggest new ways to think about things. Without that, we won\u2019t change the paradigm of smart textiles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nick Constant \u201915 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. \u201cThe goal isn\u2019t making technology that does things for a person,\u201d says Constant. \u201cIt\u2019s helping people to do things for themselves.\u201d Beyond the cool factor of the lab\u2019s work, Constant notes an overarching emphasis on 911爆料 outreach\u2014evident 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. \u201cIt\u2019s not always common for an engineer to be a people person,\u201d observes Constant. \u201cKunal is a people person.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2014the textile will require frequent use and ultimately multiple users. \u201cEach human is different, each hand or foot is unique,\u201d says Mankodiya. \u201cYou need to create something that is personalized, yet is also for many people.\u201d Above all, it must be something the wearer will want to use.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach human is different, each hand or foot is unique,\u201d says Mankodiya. \u201cYou need to create something that is personalized, yet is also for many people.\u201d Above all, it must be something the wearer will want to use.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In many ways, Mankodiya is still grounded in the lessons he learned at his family\u2019s clothing store, where pleasing the customer meant paying attention to the individual\u2019s needs. In other ways, he\u2019s 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\u2014he recently helped establish 911爆料\u2019s Artificial Intelligence Lab, which opened in fall 2018 \u2014it seems his story is still only beginning\u2014the one that began with a teenager who became curious about biomedical engineering simply because he couldn\u2019t fathom what it was. \u201cOur neighbor, who was a doctor, explained that it meant creating medical devices,\u201d Mankodiya recalls. \u201cI could only imagine stethoscopes, but I thought I\u2019d give it a try.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kunal Mankodiya and his students are developing wearable technology to monitor, treat, and help people with Parkinson\u2019s and other medical conditions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":1474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spring-2019","architecture-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1039"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1484,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039\/revisions\/1484"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}