“Sudden Impact” competition seeks solutions that prevent sports-related injuries on the field
Nov. 3, 2014 – Chicago – The element14 Community, in collaboration with Analog Devices Inc, Tektronix, Electrolube and Leeds Beckett University, today announces the launch of the “Sudden Impact” Wearable Design Challenge. A group of 15 finalists will be selected to develop wearable technology solutions for athletes to track their health and for coaches or medical practitioners to monitor players on the field in real-time. Any and all interested participants around the world are invited to submit their project proposals now via the element14 Community.
“The wearable health market is an opportunity for leading technology companies like element14 to not only participate, but to lead and drive meaningful, measurable change for end-users,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community, element14. “Through our Sudden Impact Challenge, we’re proud to empower engineers with the resources and products to develop smarter, more responsive health and fitness solutions and to empower athletes, coaches and trainers with the ability to prevent injuries and potentially save lives.”
The finalists will receive the following tools and resources to aid in their designs:
· A kit of advanced components from Analog Devices, including a digital and analog MEMS accelerometer, a single-lead heart rate monitor, digital temperature sensor and ARM Cortex-M3 chip
· A Tektronix 120B-EDU Oscilloscope
· Advanced polymers from Electrolube to help protect the wearable solutions
· A $500/€375 budget from element14 for additional parts and purchases
Each solution will be tested by the School of Computing and Creative Technologies at Leeds Beckett University. The “Sudden Impact” prototypes will be judged according to a series of four criteria:
· Effective use of the kit provided
· Simple enough for a secondary school or high school technology class to assemble and use
· Durable against a variety of athletic environments
· A qualitative leap in health measurement capabilities, providing coaches, athletes and medical professionals with critical diagnostic information
The finalists will also be judged on the content they produce throughout the course of the challenge. Competitors will blog about their progress on a weekly basis at the element14 Community from December 1, 2014 to March 27, 2015.
The Grand Prize Winner will be announced by April 3, 2015 and receive a Tektronix MDO3104 Oscilloscope ($13,900 value), and Analog Devices Inc is providing a 13-inch MacBook Air and a Withings Home. All challengers who are deemed to have successfully completed the challenge will receive a Withings Pulse, provided by Analog Devices Inc.
For information on the Sudden Impact challenge, visit: http://www.element14.com/suddenimpact.
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“This challenge stimulates creative thinking in engineering for the benefit of athletes,” said Professor Reinhold Behringer. “Leeds Beckett University is proud to be part of this challenge and will help select the winning entry with our expertise in technology and sports.”
“Electrolube are very excited to be part of this initiative,” said Robert Crosby-Clark, European Brand Director for Electrolube. “We believe this challenge will be an excellent platform for the creation of new ideas and innovative designs and will find new problems for our products to solve.”
About the Premier Farnell Group
Premier Farnell plc (LSE:pfl) is a global leader in high service distribution of technology products and solutions for electronic system design, production, maintenance and repair. It trades as Farnell element14 in Europe, Newark element14 in North America and element14 across Asia Pacific. With sales last year of £968m, the Group is supported by a global supply chain of more than 3,500 suppliers and an inventory profile developed to anticipate and meet its customers’ needs.
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About Analog Devices
Innovation, performance, and excellence are the cultural pillars on which Analog Devices (NASDAQ:ADI) has built one of the longest standing, highest growth companies within the technology sector. Acknowledged industry-wide as the world leader in data conversion and signal conditioning technology, Analog Devices serves over 60,000 customers, representing virtually all types of electronic equipment. Analog Devices is headquartered in Norwood, Massachusetts, with design and manufacturing facilities throughout the world. Analog Devices is included in the S&P 500 Index. www.analog.com.
Contact:
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Analog Devices, Inc.
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Email: bob.olson@analog.com
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Porter Novelli
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