Kiwi start-up I Measure U has launched a $US200,000 crowdfunding campaign on Californian-based platform, Indiegogo, to raise funds to help manufacture its first wearable technology consumer product.
The two-year-old company has developed a sensor that measures human body movement through physiologically based mathematical models and it's hoping to release a consumer product, IMU-Run, in the new year for runners.
It works by the runner strapping the sensor to their ankle to transmit data to their smartphone or smartwatch, providing feedback on their technique while they are running to reduce the risk of injury.
Co-founders Mark Finch and Thor Beisier set up the company in 2013 after the two bio-mechanics won Auckland University's annual Spark challenge.
It landed a $A250,000 two-year contract last year with Athletics Australia to develop wearable solutions for its elite athletes that measure training workloads to reduce the risk of injury and give better training techniques.
It has also been working with Harvard University biomechanist Dr Irene Davis, an expert on barefoot running mechanics, in a pilot study of wearable sensors for the US military.
The campaign pitch says up to 75 per cent of runners experience injury each year, with many such injuries preventable with the right feedback.
The IMU-Run product tracks the only metric scientists correlate with the risk of running injury - impact on the lower leg or tibial shock, it said.
The app will work on android and iphones and has been endorsed by the US-based Runkeeper fitness platform which has more than 30 million users worldwide.
Those who pledge money through Indiegogo receive discounted products as the return on investment.
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