Public seminar - Physical Activity and Nutrition

This event was held on Monday 24 August 2015

This public seminar hosted by the University of Newcastle Priority Research Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition presents Professor Mingui Sun from the University of Pittsburgh, USA.  Professor Sun's visit is funded by the UON International Visiting Fellowship scheme.

Wear IT, See IT, Measure IT, Locate IT: Wearable multi-component devices to study diet and physical activity

Professor Mingui Sun 

Professor Mingui Sun

University of Pittsburgh, USA

Wearable electronic devices have become new members in the family of high-tech gadgets, adding new functions to those provided by smartphones and tablets. As "always-on" miniature devices in the personal space, they are playing increasing roles in monitoring people's health and wellness.  With research grants from the National Institutes of Health in the United States, we have developed a wearable device called eButton for objective evaluation of diet and physical activity. The size of eButton is similar a common chest button, and its weight is only about one-fifth of a smart phone. The face of the eButton is covered by a removable sticker which can be designed personally. Despite its simple and personalised appearance, eButton is a complex miniature computer with a powerful CPU and massive data storage. It is also equipped with an array of sensors, including a wide-angle video camera, a light sensor, an inertial measurement unit (containing an accelerometer, a gyroscope and a magnetometer), a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, and a barometer.  We have developed data processing algorithms and software to process the massive amounts of data acquired by eButton, including food identification, portion size measurement, calories and nutrient determination, physical activity identification, and calorie expenditure estimation. The eButton has also been used to measure the heart rate and respiratory rate non-invasively without any skin contact. We have conducted a series of experiments on human subjects in their daily lives and demonstrated the usefulness of this multifunctional wearable device.

Dr Mingui Sun is a Professor of Neurological Surgery, Bioengineering and Electrical Engineering, University of Pittsburgh. He received a PhD in electrical engineering from University of Pittsburgh in 1989 and joined the faculty at the same university in 1991, where he is currently a tenured Professor of neurosurgery, electrical engineering, and bioengineering. His research interests include bioelectronics, wearable systems for the study of diet, physical activity and lifestyle, electrophysiology, neuroengineering, biosignal and image processing, and radio-frequency systems for medical applications. He has published over 400 research papers. His research has been supported by NIH and other federal grants in the United States. He is a Fellow of American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, a member of the technical committee of IEEE BioCAS, and an IEEE CAS Distinguished Lecturer for 2012-2013.