Wearable Device Uses Sensors to Detect Temperature and Head and Heart-Related Injuries While Tracking User’s Fitness Level
This mouth guard uses sensors to provide real-time data readout of vital signs and potential injuries sustained while playing sports. The market size for wearable fitness monitors, mainly wristbands and smartwatches, has increased by 90 percent in recent years. Although these devices monitor certain vital signs such as heart rate, they cannot record health information near the head such as concussions and heat stroke. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 1.6 to 3.8 million concussions occur in sports and recreational activities annually. University of Florida researchers have created a wearable device that aids the identification, quantification, and management of head, heat, and heart-related injuries that may occur during physical activity. This device could include a software counterpart for data display and cloud storage for user tracking, and could help physicians noninvasively collect samples to test for diabetes and cancer.
Application
Smart mouth guard that collects data on many common sports injuries and prevents serious aliments
Advantages
- Does not require a helmet, allowing use in a wider range of sports
- Uses sensors to collect biometric data , providing a noninvasive method for patients and healthcare providers
- Uses a 9-axis inertial sensor, rather than the typical 6-axis inertial sensor, improving the accuracy of the data it collects
Technology
This device utilizes 11 sensor channels to collect data regarding the user’s heath. This data can be sent to a master device such as a smart phone, tablet, or computer where it can be viewed and analyzed in order to ensure the safety of the user. Most wearable impact technology uses only a 6-axis inertial sensor whereas the mouth guard uses 9-axis inertial sensors to monitor lateral force and angular momentum. This allows the user to detect dangerous levels of force they may have experienced during physical activity, and it uses the Earth’s magnetic field to compensate for errors that may occur over long periods of use. The mouth guard collects data points about the user’s heart rate and blood pressure using an infrared sensor, monitors the core body temperature using a temperature sensor, measures biting force using a capacitive pressure sensor to prevent bruxism, and detects biological markers in the user’s saliva to noninvasively test for diseases.
Brochure
