The development of Acclivate went through some pretty distinct stages, and honestly the direction changed quite a bit along the way.  

My early ideation was quite broad. I was looking at active interventions like cooling vests, ice packs, and heating wires, and I found that the market for these devices is very oversaturated.  

The real turning point, however, came during an expert interview. As I’m studying at Loughborough, I was able to contact top researchers and lecturers in the fields of Sport Science and Ergonomics. One of them introduced me to the concept of human thermal lag, which basically means that reactive cooling devices cannot lower core temperature fast enough during a race to prevent harm. He also pointed out that, for a runner, any added weight directly hurts performance. That conversation forced me to completely rethink my approach. I moved away from trying to cool the athlete and towards giving them the information they needed to make smart decisions themselves.  

From there it was about figuring out the right technology to do that. It became clear that a chest-mounted heat flux sensor was the only way to get accurate core temperature data without being invasive or heavy. For the physical design, I didn’t want it to look clinical, so I went through a series of paper models and foam prototypes to get the scale, comfort, and aesthetics right. Geometric shapes felt too gadget-like, so I eventually landed on an organic, irregular shape, something closer to a polished river rock.  

The resources available within the Design School were instrumental in bringing Acclivate to life. I used the Multi-Material Workshop to move the design from sketch to tangible object, the 24-hour PC suite to build a detailed CAD model of the project, and I’m currently using the Electronics Lab to test the sensors, assemble the circuit, and validate the firmware.