Global Efforts Concerning Useability

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Globally there are some wearable body sensor network systems appearing such as the Vivometrics Lifeshirt (1) which is a shirt garment designed to be worn in the home during sleep. It is designed to measure vitals during sleep and provide indications of Sleep Apnea

The FitSense BodyLAN (2) system is a wearable system that is used to determine a user’s step count, distance traveled and caloric burn. The system features the ActiHealth Actiped sensor which is a simple sensor for monitoring foot activity (walking , jogging etc). It is very practical in that it simply clips on to the shoe.

The Nike and Ipod Rock and Run (3) system is also a great example of interaction between technology and personal area and well being. Also great example of technology being pervasive i.e. in obtrusive. Very practical and acceptable.

A Spanish company Keruve (4) has come out with a GPS device, which can be worn like a bracelet, to keep a tab on Alzheimer's patients. The system is made up of a special bracelet and a PSP like handheld device that indicates the location of the person wearing the bracelet. The bracelet is water resistant and can only be taken off using a special tool.

Vibering (5) is a very neat system aimed at helping the hearing impaired. According to Yanko Design (5), "Vibering" is an ingenious way to help the deaf, by fashionably housing a sound detection and identification system to be worn as a pair of rings and a wristwatch. The rings are to be worn on both hands and are the ears that not only listen for sounds emanating from behind, they also determine distance, position and vibrate according to source. The wristwatch aspect, identifies the sound wave and present this info to the wearer in an easy to read display. The watch is programmed to listen for certain key phrases from humans like "Excuse Me..", your name being called and any number of car noises including the most important one, a car's horn. This device concept could not just be a major life enhancer for the deaf, it would most certainly save lives."

Researchers in Harvard and MIT are developing the iShoe (6), which is a wearable shoe insole used to detect balance problems before a catastrophic fall occurs and results in a bad break such as a hip fracture.

As an example of how pervasive these body sensor networks can be, a quite interesting and certainly very 'useable' device from Philips has recently been reported in the New Scientist (7), and has been touted as "The Underpants that Could Save your Life". This device being developed is an underpants that can monitor blood pressure continously using Pulse Wave Velocity instead of a normal cuff. It has been long known that Pulse wave velocity is very closely related to blood pressure.


References

Back to Design Aspects of Body Sensor Networks

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