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Bosch Sensortec

Motusi revolutionizes health and sports sciences with innovative virtual sensor architecture enhanced by Bosch Sensortec’s smart sensor

Motusi, in collaboration with Bosch Sensortec, developed a virtual sensor architecture that redefines data collection in the sports and digital health sectors. Leveraging the power of ten synchronized BHI260AP smart sensors, Motusi's proprietary motion analysis solution caters to professionals in movement health, sports science, and performance training.

Motusi
  • Motusi, together with Bosch Sensortec, is pioneering virtual sensor architecture for data collection in sports and digital health, utilizing ten synchronized BHI260AP smart programmable sensors.
  • The solution is highly accurate and efficient thanks to the innovative virtual sensor design and has been validated in a clinical proof of concept for improved time accuracy and data transmission efficiency.
  • Motusi's platform, powered by Bosch Sensortec's smart sensors, enables remote patient care and athletic performance protocols, eliminating geographical barriers and democratizing access to movement health data and personalized care.

Motusi focuses on the delivery of complex movement health and performance datasets using on-body smart wearables combined with mobile and cloud AI designed to revolutionize digital health and sport science. Collaborating with Bosch Sensortec, the company developed its solution. While Bosch Sensortec provided the necessary sensor and reference software to address Motusi's specific use case needs, Motusi contributed the domain expertise required to develop the company's engineered athletic wear and movement analysis platform. Rather than employing separate virtual sensor definitions to meet market demands, Motusi and Bosch Sensortec worked closely together to pioneer a new and innovative virtual sensor design, yielding two key advantages:

  • Timing Accuracy: Achieving multi-sensor acquisitions with a single timestamp, simplifying synchronization across the sensor network.
  • Efficiency: Significantly reducing data transfer sizes, minimizing bus transactions, and lowering overall overhead.

Motusi validated this solution through a proof of concept conducted in a clinical environment, affirming its technical feasibility and utility.

Person wearin the Motusi Lab Kit with strap-on BHI260AP sensors for in-lab and clinical settings
Motusi Lab Kit with strap-on BHI260AP sensors for in-lab and clinical settings.

Technical excellence and
real-world application

Motusi's technical assessments of the updated virtual sensor across multiple clinical subjects affirmed its seamless performance. This design provided single timestamps for all physical and virtual sensors on a single node, streamlining data synchronization. The system efficiency was notably improved, with a 16% reduction in transferred data per sample period, equating to 2 kilobytes per second under standard operating conditions. Moreover, optimizations in the I2C protocol further minimized data transfer overhead.

Overall, the adoption of the combined virtual sensor marked a substantial improvement in Motusi's operations, facilitating reduced data transmission and ensuring deterministic timing across sampled data from each sensor node.

Motusi leveraged Bosch Sensortec’s smart programmable sensors BHI260AP to expedite product development and swiftly penetrate the market. The resulting product has demonstrated viability and is actively deployed in patient treatments and clinic evaluations. Comparative trials against traditional lab-based motion analysis systems underscore the Motusi platform's efficacy and superiority, particularly in terms of ease of use, accuracy, and cost-effectiveness. The platform's versatility extends to remote patient care and athletic performance protocols eliminating geographical barriers and democratizing access to movement health data and personalized care. Additionally, Bosch Sensortec's Smart Connected Sensors platform, particularly the BHI360 sensor, offers potential benefits and applications in active sport, fitness and rehabilitation, and immersive movement motivating gaming. Making use of this solution could further enhance Motusi’s product offering by opening up new possibilities for personalized care and escalated performance, impacting the lives of patients, athletes, and practitioners in health and sport alike.

An image of BHI260AP, a key sensor for Motusi's motion analysis solution.
BHI260AP is the key sensor for Motusi's motion analysis solution. Combining an array of software functionalities, a customizable 32-bit microcontroller, and a 6-axis IMU in a single package, it offers comprehensive capabilities.

“Motusi provides a remarkable real time performance feedback tool to accelerate change.”

Dehra Harris, the former Head of Performance Research for a Major League Baseball team

Transforming return to sport pediatric care and beyond

Motusi's impact extends to pediatric care, providing a viable alternative to traditional lab-based motion analysis systems in hospitals. The Motusi Lab Kit, in conjunction with Bosch Sensortec smart sensors, offers quick calibration and capture of movement assessments, reducing setup time from hours to minutes. Moreover, the platform's scalability and mobility positions it as a pivotal tool in pediatric care, with the potential to revolutionize movement assessments and personalized treatment protocols across a broad spectrum of conditions. Motusi's engagement with health networks, leading Pediatric Hospitals, Athlete Player-Performance centers focusing on sports medicine and functional assessment underscores its commitment to scaling its innovative solutions across a wide demographic. With projections indicating widespread adoption and integration into routine clinical practice, Motusi's platform stands poised to address the diverse needs of pediatric patients beyond Return to Sport protocol and inclusive of neuromuscular disorders on a global scale.

Motusi's innovative approach, fueled by Bosch Sensortec's advanced smart sensors, signifies a paradigm shift in democratizing access to movement health data offering quantifiable and objective data, immediate analysis, and AI capabilities. The collaboration opens new possibilities for personalized care and escalated performance, impacting the lives of patients, athletes and practitioners in health and sport.

Person exercisizing with Motusi.
Motusi athleticwear Kit with discreetly embedded BHI260AP sensors connected to the Motusi Move app.

While Motusi's current solution to motion analysis is based on a wired sensor network using BHI260AP as main component of the sensor nodes, Bosch Sensortec has recently developed the Smart Connected Sensors platform based on the smart sensor BHI360, a fully integrated hardware and software solution that drastically cuts development costs and time to market for customers who require a wireless sensor network solution that combines qualitative and quantitative movement feedback based on built-in AI features. Motusi is planning to take advantage of Bosch Sensortec’s advances, and the technology teams are working to that effect. Areas of application include active sport, fitness and rehabilitation, and immersive movement motivating gaming in combination with AR/VR applications.

The BHI260AP and BHI360 belong to the smart programmable IMU-based sensors portfolio from Bosch Sensortec. Both sensors enable full customization and programmability and come with a set of integrated application specific algorithms, like Sensor Fusion, activity recognition and gesture recognition technologies. The newer BHI360 features a smaller 20-pin LGA package measuring 2.5 x 3 x 0.95 mm³. This means it is 50% smaller than its previous generation, and the smartest programmable IMU sensor in the market.

Learn more about Motusi.

Learn more about Smart Connected Sensors.