Design and development of low-cost smart training pants (STants)

This paper presents the design and development of STants, a low-cost, wearable system for monitoring lower body movements in long-term training sessions. Multiple miniaturized inertial measurement units (IMUs) are integrated into a pair of pants and socks using textile cables. This results in a lightweight and easy to use platform providing comfortableness and maximal movement flexibility for the user. A customized firmware for energy-efficient data acquisition, in addition to a selection of low-power components extends the autonomous operation time compared to traditional approaches. Power consumption and data quality (in terms of estimated joint angles) are assessed in different experiments, showing the potential use of the proposed platform within personal training scenarios.