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BODY ROCKET… READY FOR LAUNCH The accolade for the first fully completed SPRINTfunded project at Southampton goes to Dr Martyn Prince, Principal Research Engineer at the Wolfson Unit within the School of Engineering, and Professor Eric Rogers, Professor of Control Systems Theory and Design in Electronics and Computer Science. Together with entrepreneur and athlete Eric DeGolier, they have brought to life Body Rocket. Eighty per cent of aerodynamic drag when cycling is created by your body: your position, your clothing and the way you move as you ride. Previously, the only way to accurately measure your aerodynamic drag was to pay for an expensive test session at a wind tunnel or velodrome. That’s where Body Rocket comes in. It’s a device that fits on your bike, measuring drag on every ride. Eric DeGolier explained: “Data collected by sensors on your seat post, handlebars and pedals are beamed wirelessly to a Garmin cycle computer, giving you precise, real-time feedback as you experiment with different positions, movements and kit. Then, after each session you can sit down and analyse the data on our app to identify incremental improvements and answer questions like ‘what’s my optimal riding position?’ and ‘will adjusting my saddle help me go faster?’.” Martyn explained how the collaboration with the University of Southampton and its worldclass wind tunnel brought Body Rocket to life: “We were able to apply our knowledge and systems in sports based aerodynamic testing. This allowed iterations of the Body Rocket product design to be tested and benchmarked against aerodynamic drag results measured in the controlled environment of the wind tunnel with a range of different bike setups.
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The feedback of each test session was used to inform the development of the product, resulting in continuous improvement in the measurement accuracy of the Body Rocket system.” Professor Eric Rogers worked with the Body Rocket team on data and signal analysis which was vital to product development, by applying algorithms from data analysis and system identification to recognise patterns in the measured data. Body Rocket has a patented aero system which directly measures drag force, using the same technology as the gold standard wind tunnel in which it was tested at Southampton. Eric DeGolier was inspired to develop Body Rocket when he was training to compete at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens. He was the tandem captain with three-time Paralympian Matt King in the match sprint and kilo events. “Working with SPRINT and Southampton has been critical in validating our technology and raising awareness of the company,” he concluded. “Our collaboration with Southampton has led to serious talks with professional teams and additional research partners and was a key aspect in the company successfully raising an additional £250,000 investment this year.”