New material solves pressure problem in wearable sensors

The team, led by Trisha L. Andrew, professor of chemistry and chemical engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, described pressure as ‘one of the most difficult problems in the quest to create wearable, unobtrusive sensitive sensors’.

“Imagine comfortable clothing that would monitor your body’s movements and vital signs continuously, over long periods of time,” said Andrew.

“Such clothing would give clinicians fine-grained details for remote detection of disease or physiological issues.”

One way to get this information is with tiny electromechanical sensors that turn your body’s movements — such as the faint pulse you can feel when you place a hand on your chest — into electrical signals.

However, Andrew explained that increased pressure (such as when a person receives a hug or lies on their stomach) overwhelms the sensor, interrupting the flow of data and rendering it useless for monitoring natural phenomena.

To address this, the team claims to have developed a sensor that keeps working in various everyday interactions such as being hugged, sat on or leaned on.