Good engineering solves real problems for real people. Marley Magnotta’s undergraduate research this semester did exactly that, and she presented it with the confidence and clarity of someone who understands both what she built and why it matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the UNC Charlotte undergraduate research symposium, Marley presented her project titled “Wearable Flexible Sensors for Injury Prevention and Performance Management.” The work centers on a sensor-embedded glove designed to capture the forces a worker’s hand experiences during physically demanding tasks, with the goal of better understanding how those forces contribute to injury and how workloads can be managed to improve long-term health outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is not a small problem. Repetitive strain injuries and cumulative trauma disorders in the hands and wrists are among the most common and costly occupational health issues across industries from logistics and manufacturing to baggage handling and construction. We often talk about worker safety in the abstract. Marley’s project takes a concrete, instrumented approach to understanding it at the level of individual hand mechanics and task-specific loading patterns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marley’s instrumented glove integrates flexible sensors along the hand to measure force distribution in real time during work activities. The device is designed for wearability, meaning a worker can wear it while performing actual job tasks rather than in a controlled laboratory simulation that may not reflect true conditions. The system provides visual feedback on load patterns, enabling both real-time monitoring and longer-term analysis of how forces accumulate across repetitive motions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The design process required Marley to work across disciplines, combining materials selection for the flexible sensing elements, circuit design for the sensor array, 3D printing for the structural housing, and software integration for data acquisition and display. Pulling those threads together into a functional prototype is a genuine engineering accomplishment at any level. At the undergraduate level, it is exceptional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I spent 25 years in industry before entering academia, much of it working alongside the people this technology is designed to protect. Occupational injury is a persistent and underappreciated engineering problem. The gap between what we know about biomechanical loading and what actually gets deployed on the factory floor or the warehouse dock is wide. Instrumented wearables of the kind Marley is developing have real potential to close that gap by generating the data needed to make informed decisions about task design, training, and intervention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Looking ahead<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The project builds on prior work exploring flexible sensing in industrial contexts, and Marley’s contributions this semester have meaningfully advanced the capability and durability of the prototype. Future directions include expanding the sensor array for higher spatial resolution across the hand, improving wireless data transmission for untethered deployment, and validating the system against established ergonomic measurement standards in real work environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Watching Marley hold up that glove and walk visitors through how it works and what it measures was a proud moment. She did not just build something. She built something useful, and she knew how to explain why. That combination is rare, and it speaks well of where she is headed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Congratulations, Marley. This is outstanding work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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