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IPFS News Link • Science, Medicine and Technology

The Band-Aid of the future knows when you're healed

• https://www.fastcompany.com, BY MARK WILSON

The Apple Watch really only scratches the surface of what we imagine for intimate, wearable electronics.

But a new research project out of Carnegie Mellon is nearly as easy to put on as an Apple Watch and a whole lot more capable and customizable. Dubbed ElectroDermis, it's a spandex bandage topped with stretchable, electric wiring and the sorts of circuits and sensors you find in any mobile electronic. "We were inspired by traditional medical bandages, as they come in a variety of shapes and sizes, soft and conformal, and can be placed anywhere on the body" for more accurate readings, says the paper's co-lead Eric Markvicka.

ElectroDermis takes customization a step further. By using a 3D scan from a smartphone app, the team can capture the shape of any part of your body, from your knee to your ear, and use proprietary software and off-the-shelf hardware to produce a custom ElectroDermis to fit and flex on that spot perfectly. It can monitor joints in real time, and sneak into any of the strange protrusions and valleys of our bodies where most bandages, let alone electronics, would never reach.

We've seen flexible, skin-based circuits before—like this watershed research out of University of Illinois, and this design from the University of Tokyo, which can be applied like temporary tattoos. We've even seen rubbery postage stamps that double as skin circuits. ElectroDermis isn't as discreet as these solutions, but it's a lot more rugged for addressing the motions of everyday life.


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