I went to Ann Arbor to attend the ribbon cutting on ASMI, a collab between ASICS and University of Michigan. The governor, a congresswoman, and ASICS America and ASICS global execs were in attendance. I got to see some of the labs where the kind of research that will lead to new prototypes will be performed. And it spans a wide array of disciplines, from robotics, textile research, and preference analysis.
Some highlights for me were when they let me hop on a treadmill with a portion of an exoskeleton. I’ve seen exoskeletons before but have never tried one. This one is unique in that it does not require power. And, it can be tweaked dynamically to potentially adapt to varying demands or terrain.
There’s also a lot of work that will be done for improving data capture in more real world situations, such as being able to extrapolate force plate and motion cap type data from just a single, regular camera. Another thing they hope to implement is an autonomous moving camera system that they can install along an indoor track to capture how people (and their shoes) move in a more realistic setting compared to a short runway in a lab.
I think the one thing that went kind of underappreciated while I was there was the kirigami, or art of cutting. (Origami is the art of folding). It enables the creating of complex structures, like being able to wrap something around a shoulder joint. But if it starts out flat, circuitry can be printed on the 2D surface (which makes production easier, faster, and cheaper) before the components get introduced into wearables, for example. The kirigami principles are also being used to create shock absorbing materials, it looked like.
I had to keep reminding myself that this was just the beginning (they literally cut the ribbon that Thursday morning when I was there), so the research is all in a very early phase. It will be interesting to see what innovations come out of this space and how long it takes for academia to make new discoveries
0:00 intro
0:20 ribbon cutting
2:46 textiles
3:40 kirigami
4:10 rail cam
4:54 preference research
5:35 exoskeleton
8:38 biomimicry
9:06 computer vision
Disclosures: travel and lodging costs were covered by asics. No one reviewed this video or my caption before it published
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