“At the faculty, we deliberately seek new forms of project-based learning and ways to offer students meaningful, practice-oriented topics. Cooperation with the Institute of Physical Education and Sport is an example of cross-university collaboration that enables students to work on a specific research task and try something new,” said Radek Martinek, Dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
The collaboration brought not only a sports context to the project, but also expert support for the design of training protocols and the interpretation of measured data.
“Cooperation with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science made it possible to link students’ technical knowledge with real requirements of sports practice. The Institute of Physical Education and Sport was primarily involved in designing load protocols and interpreting the measured data from the perspective of coaching practice. Although the group of tested participants was limited, the results suggest that objective measurement of biosignals has significant application potential. From the ITVS perspective, this is a very beneficial example of project-based learning with prospects for further development and continuation,” said Roman Vala, Head of the Institute of Physical Education and Sport.
The project was carried out by a nine-member team of students from the follow-up master’s degree programme in Biomedical Engineering. Its aim was to objectively capture muscle fatigue using the measurement and analysis of biosignals and to verify whether subjective perceptions of fatigue could be linked to measured data. The research was conducted on FEI students who are actively engaged in sports such as rowing, tennis, or strength training.
“As part of the project, students tested the real-world use of wearable hardware for biosignal measurement. Some worked with the measurement equipment, others participated as tested subjects, and another group simultaneously developed a user-friendly software application that could be used in the future to measure other athletes as well,” said experiment coordinator René Jaroš.
“In some cases, we were able to link subjective perceptions of fatigue with objective data. For example, when an athlete felt fatigued, this was also evident in the measured signals,” added student Veronika Bučková. At the same time, she notes that due to the limited amount of data, the results cannot be considered definitive; however, the project has clear potential for further development.
The project confirmed that objective biosignal measurement can effectively complement athletes’ subjective perceptions of fatigue and provide coaches with valuable information for managing the training process. At the same time, it offered students a unique experience of working in an interdisciplinary team, communicating with athletes, and applying theoretical knowledge in a real-world setting.
In the future, the project could be expanded to include a larger number of tested participants or the development of a software application that would evaluate the sports performance of an individual athlete based on measured data. The project may be continued by another student team within a similarly designed project-based course.