The tech world is creating a future of wearables that promises to help users live healthier lives. Technology companies’ interests have sparked the creation of numerous wearables, including fitness bands that monitor activity through temperature, heart rate, caloric output and more.
These devices produce data that can be used by users to manage their health and by athletes to optimize training efficiency and lowering the risk of injuries. However, current products provide only limited and often inaccurate information on the physical state of an individual. To get a more accurate picture of the condition of users, biochemical information of the body is essential.
To date, biochemical sensors to provide real-time monitoring of users are extremely rare.
Sweat contains a wealth of physiological information and can provide it in almost real time, allowing for easy real-time monitoring. Integrating this information potentially allows for improved monitoring in a host of different applications (e.g. athletes, medical conditions).
The consortium will develop an innovative wearable skin patch to track health in real time from biochemical information in sweat. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam focusses on sodium, potassium, chloride, ammonia, lactate and glucose sweat concentration changes in the heat.
The consortium will expand the variety of sensors, implement a flexible battery and substrate, and develop an application programming interface (API) to provide valuable health data. This project will deliver a validated Xpatch, which is compatible for use with current wearables on the market.
