Pre-seed · Movement intelligence
The quality of a movement is invisible. We’re working to change that.
Kōjō Labs is an early-stage wearable exploring how muscle activity and motion, across a wide range of activities like weight training, golf, and tennis, can be measured, understood, and improved over time.
The idea
A rep, a swing, and a serve share a problem.
From the outside they can all look and feel clean. What you can’t see is which specific muscles did the work, where the effort concentrated, and whether your form and movement were efficient or quietly compensating. That hidden layer is where progress and injury actually live. Outside a lab, almost nothing measures it.
Kōjō — 向上, Japanese for improvement — is an attempt to bring that kind of insight into something you can wear anywhere you train, whether that’s a barbell, a driver, or a racquet.
How it works
Three ideas, worn as one band.
The direction we’re exploring: sense the signal, infer more than the sensors alone can see, and turn each session into something you can learn from.
Sense
Read the electrical activity of working muscle (surface EMG) together with precise 9-axis motion — the tempo, range, and path of every movement.
Infer
Use a model to estimate the fuller picture of exertion from only a few comfortable sensors, so a wearable band can approach what a lab rig sees.
Improve
Track sessions over weeks. Surface where you’re progressing, where you’re compensating, and what to adjust next.
Movement map
Where the effort actually goes.
A concept for one part of the interface: live activation, movement quality, and a map of where load concentrates — different for every discipline. Switch between them below.
Peak load · clavicular head (upper chest)
▭ Kōjō sensor placement
Your arms stayed about 7° closer to your body than last session — a safer, more stable press.
Peak chest exertion multiplied by reps — your total pressing work per session.
Each dot is one session · line = 5-session rolling average · 110 sessions.
Illustrative concept — values and visuals are directional, not recorded data.
“Anyone who lives without igniting within themselves the desire for self-improvement (向上), without ideals or aspirations, is treating the gift of their own life far too lightly.”
Nakamura Tempu 中村天風Founder of Shin-shin-toitsu-do
Where this is
Early, and honest about it.
Kōjō Labs is not currently on shelves. The first prototype is being brought up on proven development hardware; the harder research, inferring a fuller map of exertion from few sensors, is the direction we’d pursue with the right collaborators.
- Muscle sensing
- Surface EMGMyoWare 2 wireless front-end
- Motion
- 9-axis IMUBNO086 — orientation, tempo, range of motion
- Form factor
- Elastic band / sleevedry electrodes — concept
- Intelligence
- Exertion estimation + movement segmentationresearch direction, in development
- Experience
- Session history, trends & a shared scoreconcept
- Status
- Pre-prototype · hardware bring-up
Collaborate
Looking for the first people to build this with.
Kōjō Labs is an independent, early-stage effort. If you work in wearable bioelectronics, EMG signal processing, machine learning for physiological signals, biomechanics, or sports science (and this is a problem you genuinely want to work on) we would love to connect.
Social
Training is better shared.
Reps and weight only tell part of the story. We’re interested in a single, honest measure of movement quality — one you can track yourself, and compare with the people you train with. A weekly ladder among friends turns a solo habit into something you look forward to.