Kind of neat, technology-wise. I'm not sure I'd want to buy the head unit vs. just logging the data and doing forensic analysis later. I hope the option to just log to phone app will exist, and that the data is in a format that makes it easy for forensic review.

But in terms of metrics: "Dead Spot Scores, Foot Angular Range, Foot Angular Range (Q1), Leg Angular Range and Pelvic Tilt."

I'm having a hard time getting excited about those. Like I might want to borrow one of these things just to see if I have some blatant asymmetry, like the Henderson testimonial example. But that's about it. I'd never consider buying one.

I think this thing would be more interesting for physical therapists working on people with acute issues. E.g. if you're recovering from a major injury you could wear it once a week and the therapist could log in and check the status, and, say something like, "I see your leg range is much better this week! Why don't you increase the volume to 20 minutes."

I had some fun with it this morning. You have to imagine adding more sensors (which will be possible) to measure all joint angles and, boom, instant motion capture fit system at a fraction of the cost of what's out there now at this level while measuring more metrics simultaneously 360 degrees. Then think about it's application for other sports: running, swimming, baseball, golf...just about anything that involves technique. THEN, think about how else this technology is being used. There are a few "soccer" teams in the Premier League that use this technology (not this system) while their players are out on the field practicing. Fatigue and injury can quite often be "seen' long before it becomes a problem based on gait posture, etc. The NBA LA Clippers held out Blake Griffin a few extra games in January by using this technology showing him he wasn't as ready as he thought to come back from injury. He said something to the effect of, "When they show you all the data, it doesn't lie and you can't argue."

This is the future of motion capture. Anyone working on anything optical is wasting their time. And the price is right, too, because this tech will advance quickly, become smaller, and eventually be sewn into clothing. You don't want to invest big bucks into a new system that will be obsolete in less than a year. My only worry for LEOMO is there are some very big players with very big pockets coming to market with IMU systems in the next year. Most are focusing on medical applications, but they see the benefits in sport, too. There's just less money in sports compared to medical.

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Jim Manton / ERO Sports

Interesting comment. Would love your 2 cents within the story too

I work with inertial sensors for a living, and I'd be a little hesitant making that claim. Low-cost IMUs just aren't very accurate. They might be accurate *enough* for a lot of purposes. But if you want what I call "laboratory-grade" motion analysis, you either have to go optical or invest in military-grade IMUs. Which are *not* cheap. There are all sorts of filtering tricks you can do with IMUs, but the underlying sensors just have noise and bias characteristics that will limit some applications.

For example I don't think you'll see movie motion capture for actors move from optical to inertial for quite some time. Because they need lab-grade stuff.

There are some new MEMs IMU technologies on the horizon that are very exciting. But they're a few years from hitting the market.

I think it is worth the price of admission simply to explain, motivate, and evaluate pelvic tilt as it applies to aerobar versus road position.

This sounds like what Argon is working on with their Smart Bike, having individual sensors placed on various parts of the body to provide real time feedback, and post ride analysis. Being able to wear a sensors for an entire ride would also allow riders to examine how their mechanics change due to fatigue over time, could have some interesting applications to training (holding position) or even fit (if can't hold position for duration of ride). Quite fascinating, especially when talking about where small gains can mean podium or non podium for some athletes.

We will see more technology coming our way in blazing speed whether we like it or not

I think we are reaching a break point per se and see some athletes suffering from paralysis by analysis.

I was working on this project prior to leaving CU Sports Medicine. The metrics I was working toward had far greater range than what is released with this version. I'm confident that they will release significantly more powerful analysis in the future.

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I talk a lot - Give it a listen: http://www.fasttalklabs.com/category/fast-talk
I also give Training Advice via http://www.ForeverEndurance.com

The above poster has eschewed traditional employment and is currently undertaking the ill-conceived task of launching his own hardgoods company. Statements are not made on behalf of nor reflective of anything in any manner... unless they're good, then they count.
http://www.AGNCYINNOVATION.com

I agree on quality, and I've worked with the high-end stuff, but the technology is advancing very, very quickly so accuracy, in regards to measuring joint angles, gait, posture, etc. is all quite attainable, and reasonable pricing is not far behind. Besides, you've got people in the industry "measuring" with Kinects, so clearly accuracy isn't the end goal. :-)

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Jim Manton / ERO Sports

Given cycling has only a very limited amount of pedal technique involved, I'd need quite a deal of convincing about the practical usefulness of such data. e.g. an independent assessment that training intervention changes based on such data is efficacious.

Bike fit perhaps but a fancy ruler doesn't make someone a good bike fitter.

Recording what someone does is one thing. Making the evidence based leap to prescribing what they should do is quite a chasm.

No doubt it'd be fun to play with the data, come up with ideas etc.

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http://www.cyclecoach.com
http://www.aerocoach.com.au

or as it applies to swimming... seeing how you are a swim guy

Bringing up an old thread as looking at this system.
Anyone tried it?

The question is, you can measure data with this system but can you actually act on it in a positive way?

I think the real “leap” will come when there is active feed back adds to these systems. The trick will be , in real time, to correct a motion for optimization.

Most people are terrible at listening to corrections to existing muscle memory and being able to change them.

When they can add real time muscle stimulation to this real time observation type of technology it will be huge.

.. it will be interesting to analyze different moving patterns in specific situations to apply force into the bike to move more effective and at the end being faster over the ground ..

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