ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Movement Science
The Prototype Description of a Smartphone Application 'Maturo': Applying Artificial Intelligent Technology to Monitor the Growth and Maturation of Youth
Ximing Shang
Jorge Arede
Pedro Couto
Rute Bastardo
Nuno Leite
University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal
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Abstract
Abstract: Growth and Maturation monitoring (GAM) is important for youth sports, and recent developments in mobile technologies have incorporated advanced artificial intelligence (AI) methods such as computer vision (CV) and machine learning (ML) in personal devices. This paper aims to describe a smartphone application (app) named Maturo that is designed to monitor the GAM of youth in sports and healthcare. The app is developed with the Dart programming language, and it serves with automated data processes, advanced data analysis functions and longitudinal growth track for the users. The app enables widespread access to monitor the GAM by using a smartphone, a device commonly owned by players, parents, and coaches. The app development process includes user and expert advisory involvement, data security and privacy considerations, design creation, and output translation into an app. This manuscript is the first part of a project that applies AI technology to the GAM monitoring of youth. We also demonstrate the development of Maturo for sports and health fields to showcase the utility of our app
Summary
Keywords
Growth and maturation, Health application, Monitoring, Sport application, talent identification and development
Received
09 April 2025
Accepted
20 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Shang, Arede, Couto, Bastardo and Leite. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Ximing Shang
Disclaimer
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