Wearable health monitor sticks to the job

According to its developers, the soft and conformable monitor can transmit electrocardiogram (ECG), heart rate, respiratory rate and motion activity data 15m to a smartphone or tablet computer. The electronics are mounted on a stretchable substrate and connected to gold, skin-like electrodes through printed connectors that can stretch with the medical film in which they are embedded. Details of the monitor are published in Advanced Science.

"This health monitor has a key advantage for young children who are always moving, since the soft conformal device can accommodate that activity with a gentle integration onto the skin," said Woon-Hong Yeo, an assistant professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GATECH). "This is designed to meet the electronic health monitoring needs of people whose sensitive skin may be harmed by conventional monitors."