Scientists have developed wireless stickers to put on your skin that can detect physiological signals and then transmit health readings on to clothes.
A team of engineers from Stanford University have created sensors that stick like band-aids on the skin that can detect physiological signals and then provide that information to you by sending it to a receiver that is on your clothes.
To showcase their new invention, the team put the sensors to the wrist and abdomen on a participant. The wearable technology observes how the skin contracts and stretches with the subject's heartbeat and breath in order to track the subject's pulse and respiration. The team also applied the stickers on the subject's elbows and knees to track motions in that area.
Zhenan Bao, a chemical engineering professor calls the new technologyBodyNet. "The BodyNet sticker is similar to the ID card: It has an antenna that harvests a bit of the incoming RFID energy from a receiver on the clothing to power its sensors. It then takes readings from the skin and beams them back to the nearby receiver, " creators of the new technology stated.
The team hope to first use it on patients who suffer from sleep disorders or heart conditions. Bao and her team are also looking to develop stickers that can sense swear in order to detect stress and body temperature.
Ultimately, the team hopes these wireless sensors can help effectively and accurately detect a range of health issues. "We think one day it will be possible to create a full-body skin-sensor array to collect physiological data without interfering with a person's normal behaviour," said Bao, who is also the K.K. Lee Professor in the School of Engineering, told a news portal.
Another team of researchers have also come up with 'smart' pajamas that can help monitor and improve sleep quality. "Our smart pajamas overcame numerous technical challenges," team leader Trisha L. Andrew, an Associate Professor in Chemistry at the University of Massachusetts,told a news portal.
Adding, "We had to inconspicuously integrate sensing elements and portable power sources into everyday garments, while maintaining the weight, feel, comfort, function and ruggedness of familiar clothes and fabrics. We also worked with computer scientists and electrical engineers to process the myriad signals coming from the sensors so that we had clear and easy-to-understand information.
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