Sports Practical Measurement Week: Practical Tests of Sports Technology Students in Brno

At the end of June, the students of the second semester of the Master’s program Sports Technology had to undergo extensive tests for their semester projects within the framework of the Sports Practical Measurement Week. For the second time the measurement week took place in cooperation with the Centre of Sports Activities (CESA) at the Brno University of Technology.  For one week, the students of the UAS Technikum Wien used the outdoor area of the Czech university as an outdoor laboratory for their measurements.

At the beginning of the semester, when the course starts, the budding sports technologists first choose their respective tasks and then prepare during the course of the semester for the practical implementation of the tests during the measurement week. “The students also have to deal with the relevant influencing factors in the outdoor environment – such as the temperature drift of the electronics, rain, or that there is no soldering station in the field. At a measurement appointment with a company or sports federation, the graduates will later have to take into account local conditions and possibilities, but also a wide variety of influencing factors,” says Markus Eckelt, head of the UASTW competence field “Sports Engineering, Biomechanics & Ergonomics”, who is coordinating the cross-border collaboration together with Pavel Korvas, head of the Brno Sports Technology program.

Practice-oriented Issues

This year, the students implemented a total of five projects together with companies from the sporting goods sector. As part of the preparation, the teams involved met with representatives of the manufacturers to coordinate the planned methods and test procedures. Two of the projects dealt with bicycle-related topics. One group of students looked at the stresses on the frame of mountain bikes under different braking methods, while another team took measurements while riding a racing bike in order to analyze the stresses on the rider caused by vibrations.

The other three projects revolved around the area of sports shoes: One team of students investigated the traction of trail running shoes on various surfaces, while another team examined the traction of soccer shoes on artificial and natural turf. Another group looked at the measurement of muscle activity and the influence of different insoles for soccer shoes. During the measurement week, the students had to document their work progress on a daily basis, an interim presentation was scheduled for the middle of the week, and the final results of the projects were presented and discussed at the end of the summer excursion abroad.