Who

Those providing care or treatment of infants five months or older.

The garment incorporates movement sensors mounted in the upper arms and legs.

What

The new smart jumpsuit accurately measures the spontaneous and voluntary movement of infants from the age of five months. Details on their motility help in assessing abnormal neurological development, among other things. Until now, babies have been qualitatively assessed at the physician’s office, which means their behavior may not necessarily match that seen at home. Now, the child is sent back home with the suit for the rest of the day and the next day, the suit is returned to the hospital or doctor’s office where the results are processed. The multi-sensor smart jumpsuit is a relatively inexpensive, comfortable, easy-to-use wearable that provides automatic posture and movement tracking. The full-body garment features four battery-operated wireless sensors mounted in the upper arms and legs. The washable garment allows mobile accelerometer and gyroscope data collection during movements.

Where

University of Helsinki, Finland

The smart jumpsuit allows babies’ spontaneous movement in their natural environment.

Why

The jumpsuit quantifies infant movement as reliably as a human being would be able to do by viewing a video recording. After the measurement, the infant’s actual movements and physical positions are known to the second. The measurements provide a tool to detect the precise variation in movement, which can help identify infants who are at risk for a wide range of neurodevelopmental disorders such as cerebral palsy and autism spectrum disorders as well as neurocognitive disabilities.

When

The cost to produce the proof-of-concept jumpsuit from retail components is about 0 USD; large-scale production could lower the price to to USD. In the future, the jumpsuit can be used to study older children.