• Question: What sort of equiptment will be involved in doing your research?

    Asked by apple to Sian, Sally, SallyB, Rebecca, Pete on 21 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by emz96.
    • Photo: Sian Lawson

      Sian Lawson answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      For the motion capture I mainly use near infra-red cameras (like the one in my profile pic) which transmit light and track the positions of reflective markers which you can attach to anything that you want to follow. This is also the main kit that we use for film and games visual effects so you may have seen them on DVD special features. Sometimes though I just use high speed video or different types of tracking sensors such as accelerometers. I also use force measuring equipment including floor-mounted force-plates or force sensors built into kit.

      I also work with imaging which requires ultrasound or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners.

      The whole thing then comes together in a computational model, which makes the computer the most important piece of kit!

    • Photo: Sally Fenton

      Sally Fenton answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      There will be loads of equiment invovled..and it is all pretty expensive so I am a bit worried about being left in charge or it!

      The equipment I will be using the labs are:

      An indirect calorimeter – this is a machine which is connected to a person by a mouth piece (a bit like a sports mouth guard) and measures the amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide we breathe in and out. From this we can work out how much energy someone is using up (how many calories they are burning) and what fuel their body is running on (carbohydrate (sugars like glucose) or fat). This can be done while a person is resting or exercising and is really interesting to find out!

      An Arteriograph – this is like a blood pressure cuff your GP would use to measure your blood pressure. It measures how stiff your main artery which takes blood away from your heart (your aorta) is. The stiffer your artery the higher risk you are at from developing heart disease.

      A treadmill – this is just because as part of my research I need people to exercise so they do it on a treadmill!

      Activity monitors – These are tiny (and very expensive) monitors which measure the intensity and amount of physical activity a person does in their daily lives. It uses information such as how many steps a person takes and their heart rate… to calculate how much time a person spends doing low, moderate or high intensity activity and how many calories they burn whilst they are doing it. They are very clever little pieces of equipment!

      A DEXA scanner – This is a machine which scans your whole body like an Xray to tell you what your body is made up of. It lets use know how much muscle, fat and bone is in a persons body and where it is (on the stomach, the arms, legs etc. This is very useful for obesity research.

      I will also be working on something called a health research bus which is basically a lab in a big bus that we can drive around to schools and other places to get more people involved in my research! This will have all the equipment (plus lots more) I just described above on it.

    • Photo: Peter Styring

      Peter Styring answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Skis, polymers, snow and ice. A device for measuring friction. There are lots of things in the laboratory as well. A mountain is also quite useful!

    • Photo: Rebecca Randell

      Rebecca Randell answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      I use exercise bikes to make people exercise on. I use a machine called a oxycon that measure how much oxygen people breathe in and carbon dioxide breathe out. I also use things called douglas bags- i have to put a massive mouth piece into my subjects mouth and they breathe into big bags. I also have equipment to take blood i have to cannulate people- this means putting a small rubber tube into some ones vein so that i can take regular blood samples.

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