From lab to clinic: validation for Balance Mat technology and its postural sway data

A recent site visit to the University of Canberra Robotics Lab highlighted how collaborative research is advancing the science of falls prevention for older Australians.

Pictured are (left to right): PhD candidate and Balance Mat Pty Ltd Electronics Engineer Abishek Shrestha, Robotics Professor Damith Herath, Balance Mat Inventor & Balance Metrix Co-Founder Ian Bergman, Electronics Engineering Senior Lecturer Dr Maryam Ghahramani and Balance Metrix Pty Ltd Business Manager & Co-Founder Margaret Metz.

The five-year partnership between the UC researchers and the two companies behind the Balance Mat technology (Balance Metrix Pty Ltd – the supplier – and Balance Mat Pty Ltd – the manufacturer and database manager) bridges engineering and clinical practice to validate the Balance Mat technology and advance postural sway diagnostics. To ensure data reliability, Professor Damith Herath’s robotics team used an automated robotic arm (pictured behind Abishek below) to simulate precise, repeatable human postural sway, stress-testing the Balance Mat’s optical fibre sensor system under strict laboratory conditions.

This rigorous technical calibration underpins the findings recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Sensors by the UC technical team members pictured above together with Clinical Associate Professor (Physiotherapy) Dr Angie Fearon. You can read the paper: “Technical and Clinical Validation of a Portable Optical Fibre Balance Mat for Quantifying Postural Sway in Older Adults” here.

Historically, capturing this level of precision required a force plate – a heavy, cost-prohibitive, semi-permanent piece of equipment traditionally used in gyms by allied health practitioners to assess sportspeople’s balance – or inertial sensors that are typically used by researchers for the same purpose. The UC team’s research has confirmed that the portable Balance Mat quantifies postural sway with the aim of supporting more accessible and reliable balance assessment for older populations.

The seamless transition from the lab to real-world care was spearheaded by Abishek Shrestha, the electronics engineer who spent three years bridging the hardware / software tests with human clinical trials. For older Australians, the benefit of Abishek’s work is the availability of a non-invasive, objective series of 20-second standing tests that screen for subtle mobility decline, enabling early, targeted physical therapy well before a fall occurs.

Commenting on the significance of the research, Professor Herath noted the profound impact the technology will have on proactive healthcare: “The Balance Mat will fundamentally change the way we measure and understand human balance.”

Balance Mat inventor Ian Bergman added: “Packing this type of accuracy into a deceptively simple, portable Balance Mat system allows clinicians to bring advanced diagnostics directly to an aged care home or clinic floor. For aged care providers, allied health professionals and general practitioners it means that cheap, accurate human movement analytics are now more accessible than ever.”

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