Many of us have had some sort of rehab where we must continue the exercises at home. The physiotherapist shows us what to do and off we go – but are we still doing those exercises correctly at home and are they helping?
That’s the challenge University of Canterbury computer science and software engineering lecturer Dr Aluna Everitt and her multi-disciplinary team of computer scientists, designers and engineers are trying to overcome using human computer interaction (HCI) and 3D-printed wearables.
Dr Everitt specialises in HCI and has conducted research at a number of universities across the United Kingdom including the Universities of Oxford and Bristol, and Lancaster University where she completed her PhD. Her research is all about democratising design and developing emerging technologies such as wearables, robotics, and tangible user interfaces to create cheap, simple and accessible tools.
“I am interested in understanding how we can bridge the gap between digital and physical systems by using digital fabrication for designing, developing, and evaluating the next generation of interactive and physical interfaces,” says Everitt.
“My approach is based on multi-material 3D printing to make tools that are affordable, and a simple fabrication process that doesn’t need highly technical or expensive tools and components.”
She began this project while a visiting researcher at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and is now continuing it in New Zealand with physiotherapists to progress the concept.
Think about motion tracking where people wearing special body suits dotted with sensors are filmed, often against a green screen,or a body harness peppered with sensors. Everitt’s concept takes this concept much further and into something that is far more flexible and more advanced in HCI terms.
Her wearables look like strips of plastic but they’re flexible, stretchable and wearable, with built-in sensors, and can be shaped for wear on different parts of the body. They’re printed cheaply using 3D multi-materials which are safe for use against the skin.
“This is wearable tracking technology that can tell whether the wearer is doing the exercise correctly and feeding that information back to the healthcare professional. We can embed monitoring such as haptics, audio, lights for when audio isn’t appropriate, vibration like a smartphone, and material that visually changes colour according to body temperature, along with a feedback mechanism for the healthcare professional.”
Everitt’s concept tapes into what’s already happening in the digital space with smartphones, CAD software and plug-ins.
She has two students working on wearables designed for larger body parts and movements, such as bending an arm or leg, and tracking. They’re also looking at using conductive 3D material, and how to embed things like haptics.
The goal over the next 12 months is to develop a prototype that the team can introduce to physiotherapists for feedback.
Everitt also has an eye on the sportspeople where flexible wearables could help with training. She and her colleagues have presented a paper to the 2025 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference exploring how advances in digital fabrication with flexible and conductive materials are enabling new opportunities for customisable wearables to enhance physical training across various sports through on-body posture and movement monitoring.
