Doctors maybe just a few years away from tracking your vital signs via electronic skin worn on the body. Researchers in Japan say they have developed an ultra-thin,
lightweight e-skin that is stuck to the chest area using water spray and can be worn for a week at a time. The technology was developed by Takao Someya, a professor at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Engineering. It has yet to undergo clinical trials, but Someya says he has started working with partners to develop manufacturing processes.
Made from a flexible material — polyvinyl alcohol — with a layer of gold, the e-skin is a wearable sensor that can pick up signals such as heartbeat and electrical impulses from muscle movement.
A small wireless transmitter strapped to the chest will send heartbeat data to a nearby smartphone or laptop, or to the cloud, allowing a doctor to monitor it remotely.”E-skin is the next generation of wearables,” Someya says. “Today’s mainstream wearables are in the form of smartwatches and glasses, which are bulky. In contrast, e-skin is thin, lightweight, stretchable, and durable.”
E-skin is designed for the older people and the athletes.
Someya furthermore said 5G will have a “tremendous impact” on wearable technologies, including e-skin, by increasing the amount of data that can be transmitted wirelessly at high speed, giving users access to their health information in real-time.
“The ultimate goal of e-skin is to monitor all the different types of human information easily, anywhere and anytime, without disturbing daily activities,”
