Kinesiology team earns second place in NASA-sponsored design challenge

April 22, 2025- DENTON - To mitigate muscle loss in space, astronauts exercise up to four hours in a single day. What if they could achieve similar performance outcomes with less weight in a shorter time span? A team of Texas Woman's kinesiology students researched, designed, fabricated and tested an wearable exercise device that could potentially transform astronauts' workouts in space flight.

The team, dubbed Team Pleiades, took second place overall at a NASA-sponsored statewide design competition. The four seniors took first place in oral presentation and third for best poster. Team members Anaya Kashikar (team lead), Clay Martin, Martha Hinojosa and Matthew Pearson received scholarships from TSGC for their project.

"This team's ability to collaborate, and their genuine care for one another, allowed them to be very competitive at the design challenge,"said Rhett Rigby, interim director of the School of Health Promotion and Kinesiology and the team's faculty advisor.

TWU was the only kinesiology department represented at the Texas Space Grant Consortium Design Challenge, which wrapped up April 18 just outside of Houston. The majority of the 25 college teams in the competition are engineering students.

The second-place finish continues a successful run for TWU's School of Health Promotion and Kinesiology'sresearch internship team. Over the last 14 semesters that Texas Woman's teams have entered the competition, they've finished in the top four 12 times. TWU has won the competition five times, including last semester.

For the last three years, TWU teams have focused on the topic of mitigating muscle atrophy in long-duration space flight for their projects at the statewide competition. This semester's team created a compact blood flow restriction device that integrates neuromuscular electrical stimulation that can be implemented during resistance-training workouts in space.

The spring 2025 team upgraded last semester's blood flow restriction cuff-shaped device with a sturdier, flexible cuff, a new air bladder and updated code. The big improvement was the addition of a second device - a neuromuscular electrical stimulation system, which elicits muscle contraction by delivering electrical currents through surface electrodes placed on the leg muscles.

"This is an innovative idea that has some limited terrestrial research to back it," Rigby said. "However, to our knowledge, it has never been tried in space. Aspects of the design, from the materials chosen, to the testing protocol and outcome measures, and even parts of the code, were tailored to life in microgravity."

Both devices are worn on the leg while performing exercises, such as a back squat or deadlift. With this system, astronauts could lift smarter, not harder.

Blood-flow restriction can be used to partially reduce blood flow to a targeted body segment by applying pressure to major leg arteries while training. When using BFR, a lower intensity workout will elicit similar responses as high-intensity resistance training. This lower intensity training with BFR lowers the risk for injury, promotes muscle growth and aids in muscle recovery.

Neuromuscular electrical stimulation can enhance the benefits and recovery of BFR. With this stimulation, fast-twitch muscle fibers and blood circulation are increased leading to improved muscular health.

The four seniors, who are all graduating in May, spent a combined 1,000 hours on the project since January. With health science backgrounds, the group applied physical therapy techniques while also learning engineering principles, such as coding and circuitry.

"These team members seemed to strike the balance between life inside and outside the lab," Rigby said. "They worked hard and were diligent in their daily responsibilities when working on the project. Outside of the lab, they enjoyed each other's company and wanted to be around each other. I believe this balance is a key to a successful team."

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