Programmable Fiber Provides Power and Transmits Data

Designed for soldier uniforms, the fiber can sense, store, analyze, and infer activity when sewn into a piece of clothing.

Products of Tomorrow: September 2021

Water-sensing smartphone screens, a NASA-developed RF switch, and an ultrasound patch.

Wearable, All-in-One Health Monitor

The soft, stretchy skin patch can monitor cardiovascular signals and multiple biochemical levels at the same time.

Device Powers Wearable Sensors Through Human Motion

A triboelectric generator made of flexible circuit boards creates electricity when the wearer moves.

Early Warning System for COVID-19 and Flu Using Wearables

The smart ring shows it’s possible to detect fever before you feel it.

Electronic Tattoo Enables Uninterrupted Heart Monitoring for Extended Periods

This wearable device is placed on the skin to measure a variety of body responses, from electrical to biomechanical signals.

Smart Sensors Are Improving Medical Care

Over the last 75 years, sensors have played an increasingly significant part in the advancement of medicine.

Biometric Security System Based on the Human Heartbeat

The wearable prototype can stream, in real time, an identifying signature based on the electrical activity of a person's heart.

Robot Takes Contact-Free Measurements of Patients’ Vital Signs

The mobile system could reduce healthcare workers’ exposure to the COVID-19 virus.

Technologies Interpret Mood from the Skin

Smart devices measure electrical signals from the skin, indicating stress levels and emotions.

Adhesive Film Turns Smartwatch into Biochemical Monitor

The system looks for chemical indicators found in sweat to give a real-time snapshot of what’s happening inside the body.

New Solution to Elderly Falls: Drones, Smartphones and Sensors

Drones, smartphones, and sensors could provide a lifeline to the world’s growing elderly population at risk of falls.

Biofeedback Loops Aim to Enhance Combat and Sports Training

Research in astronaut monitoring leads to virtual reality spinoffs.

Q&A: Wearable Motion Sensors Could Save Unborn Babies

Professor Negar Tavassolian is using vibration sensors to monitor heartbeats.

Soft, Wearable Health Monitor with Stretchable Electronics

A soft and conformable health monitor can broadcast electrocardiogram (ECG), heart rate, respiratory rate, and motion activity data as much as 15 meters to a portable recording...

High Tech Comes to Fitness Monitoring

Early wearable fitness monitoring devices were designed to perform a set of valuable but straightforward activities: tallying the number of steps we take daily, recording the number of hours we sleep,...

UCI Biomedical Engineers Develop Wearable Respiration Monitor with Children’s Toy

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a wearable, disposable respiration monitor that provides high-fidelity readings on a...

Wearable Ultrasound Patch Monitors Blood Pressure

Wearable devices have been limited to sensing signals either on the surface of the skin or right beneath it. A new wearable ultrasound patch non-invasively monitors blood pressure in arteries...

Ingestible Sensors Powered by Stomach Acid

A small voltaic cell was developed that is sustained by the acidic fluids in the stomach. The system can generate enough power to run small sensors or drug delivery devices that can reside in the...

Near-Zero-Power Temperature Sensor

A temperature sensor was developed that runs on 113 picowatts of power — about 10 billion times smaller than a Watt. The technology could enable devices that can be powered by harvesting energy from...

Tiny Probe Can See and Measure Body Temperatures

A new probe developed at the University of Adelaide, may help researchers find better treatments to prevent drug-induced overheating of the brain, and potentially refine thermal treatment for...

Researchers Deploy Smart Technologies to Detect Blood Pressure and Arrhythmias

Smart technologies, including phones and other personal devices, have grown in popularity around the globe. With built-in sensors and the ability to tap expansive...

How Sophisticated Wearable Sensors are Changing Healthcare

In the traditional model of healthcare, a patient would visit a doctor regularly for checkups or for evaluations when there’s an ailment. This model, however, isn’t ideal for...

Near-Zero-Power Temperature Sensor

A temperature sensor was developed that runs on 113 picowatts of power — about 10 billion times smaller than a Watt. The technology could enable devices that can be powered by harvesting energy from...

Learn to Trust Your Infrared Camera

It's tough to trust measurements from instruments when you don't have a clear understanding of how their sensitivity and accuracy are derived, and many times infrared cameras fall in this category. In...

Products of Tomorrow: March 2018

This column presents technologies that have applications in commercial areas, possibly creating the products of tomorrow. To learn more about each technology, see the contact information provided for that...

Q&A: Georgia Tech's Dr. Shannon Yee Demonstrates Simple Biosensors, Powered by Body Heat

Using flexible conducting polymers and novel circuitry patterns printed on paper, researchers in Dr. Yee’s laboratory have demonstrated...

Researchers Develop Flexible, Stretchable Photonic Devices

Researchers at MIT and several other institutions have developed a method for making photonic devices — similar to electronic devices but based on light rather than electricity —...

Hybrid 3D Printing Method for Flexible Electronics

A new method for digital design and printing of stretchable, flexible electronics, called Hybrid 3D printing, was developed to integrate soft, conductive inks with a material substrate to...