Northeastern U. Students Wire Pitchers’ Shirts to Help Prevent Sports Injuries

Three Northeastern University mechanical-engineering students have designed a data-gathering shirt that could reduce fatigue-related injuries among pitchers in baseball. For their senior project, Marcus Moche, Alexandra Morgan, and David Schmidt wired an Under Armour-brand shirt to graph the mechanics of a pitch. They tested their product on two pitchers from Northeastern’s club team. 

The students sewed accelerometers onto the forearm, upper arm, and back of the shirt with conductive thread. The wiring gathers at the small of the back and connects to a data-acquisition machine, which converts the signals into number values. Every pitch yields a graph that shows the speed and displacement of three body parts where the accelerometers are attached.

In testing, each pitcher’s graph was distinct. One pitcher’s fastball was different from the other’s, and both pitchers’ curveballs looked different from the fastballs. As each pitcher got tired, the graph showed exactly how his motions were affected.

Mr. Schmidt explained that pitching coaches could use the shirt to study how their players’ pitches usually look and immediately detect when a pitcher becomes tired. The coach could pull the player from the field before poor form caused an injury.

“This would enable the coaches to get to know their players a lot better on a physical, mechanical level,” Mr. Schmidt said.

Next, the students plan to make the shirt wireless, so that it could actually be used on the field.