Assignement Week 5 – Part 2

Part 2) Based on the lecture on Place, Location and Ubiquitous technology, post an example of a product, service or design concept and post it on OSS.

I think an area in which there is still a lot to do concerning Ubiquitous Technology and Wearable Technology is the health sector. Smartwearables which enable you to monitor you health aren’t really widespread as of now.

Of course you find wearables such as FitBit, and Nike plus, but these are made to monitor your efforts and your basic physiological factors (Cardiac activity) but it doesn’t take care of more in depth problems. Furthermore, most of the time this type of wearables are only met for personal use (or shared with friends, but that’s it).

Fitbit watch, monitors your heart rate
Polar heart rate monitor

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some wearables exist for people over 60 years old, or any person with history of cardiac problems in the family. It consists of a cardiac monitor connected to the patient’s phone. In case of an unusual heart rate, the nearest hospital and the family would be alerted.  This would be a stress relief for the family and could be especially useful for the elderly who live alone.

This system exists on the markets but is only available in the US and is pricey.

Heart rate monitoring system

But then again, why stop just at cardiac monitoring. You could imagine a dozen micro-wearables, all connected to the phone of the patient, which would all monitor a different aspect of the patient’s physiology.

Micro-wearable located on the patient’s body, connected to a smartphone application

The application on the patient’s smartphone would collect all the data and send an alarm/notification if there is anything unusual. Therefore, the app would have to be calibrated beforehand with the different specialist who cover the patient’s health (cardiologist, GP, etc..)

New system of biosensors that can keep track of people’s health by analyzing the chemical composition of their sweat (University Of California-Berkeley / Stanford University – School of Medecine) 

You can find more on the example given above by clicking on this link: (http://www.techtimes.com/articles/128695/20160129/forget-fitbit-and-apple-watch-this-wearable-sweat-sensors-can-tell-you-about-your-health-on-a-molecular-level.htm)

Basically what this product does is analyze your sweat. In fact the metabolites and electrolytes found in sweat carry a lot of important information on the patient’s health (diseases, drug use, athletic performance). And the major advantage is that it is non-invasive, no needle is needed.