DEEP TECH HEALTH + NEUROTECH
Sampsa Vanhatalo, Manu Airaksinen and University of Helsinki colleagues have developed MAIJU (Motor Assessment of Infants with a Jumpsuit,) a wearable onesie with multiple movement sensors which they believe is able to predict a child’s neurological development. In a recent study, 5 to 19 month-old infants were monitored using MAIJU during spontaneous playtime. Initially, infant […]
UCSD’s Joe Wang has developed a soft, flexible, pacifier-based biosensor that continuously monitors glucose levels in saliva to detect diabetes in babies. Until now, continuous glucose monitoring in newborns, available only in major hospitals, requires piercing the infant’s skin to reach interstitial fluid. The team created a proof of concept pacifier where small amounts of saliva […]
Texas professor Kaya de Barbaro is creating a mother-child wearable system to detect and attempt to prevent postpartum depression. Mother stress levels are measured via heart rythm, and encouraging messages are sent. Mom wears the sensor on her wrist, and baby wears it on her/his ankle. The child’s sensor collects heart rate and movement data, […]
Acoustic sensors are increasingly used in monitoring fetal health. Imperial College’s Niamh Nowlan is using low cost, non-transmitting accelerometers and acoustic sensors to continuously track fetal movement to understand skeletal development. Acoustic sensors enable discrimination between the movement of the fetus and mother. Israel’s Nuvo Group is continuously monitoring fetal cardiac activity using acoustic sensors and ECG […]
Caroline Hartley and Oxford colleagues studied 72 infants during painful medical procedures. Using EEG, they found a signature change in brain activity about a half-second after a painful stimulus. They seek to understand its use in monitoring and managing infant pain, as well as the use of EEG in adult pain treatment. EEG is more precise than current heart rate, […]
ApplySci predicts significant growth in the use of wearables for babies, toddlers, and pregnant moms. The Smilables system combines a baby-worn ankle bracelet with an app for parents that suggests structured interactions. The baby is monitored in real-time to identify the times that he/she would be most receptive to interventions. Caregivers are alerted throughout the […]
Hari Shroff and NBIB colleagues have developed open-source 3D software that might lead to the ability to track a human embryo’s brain activity and development. To date, the technology has only been tested on worms and will be part of a 4D neurodevelopmental “worm atlas” that attempts to catalogue the formation of a worm’s nervous system. Shroff believes […]
A smart baby bottle by nfant uses sensors to measure a baby’s tongue strength while feeding. Data is sent to a caregiver’s phone and stored in the cloud. Tongue movements determine whether a baby in the NICU has the strength to switch from tube to bottle or breastfeeding. ApplySci sees the opportunity for the next generation […]
WAAA! is a text-based neonatal surveillance system developed by David Swann of the University of Huddersfield. It is a finalist project of UNICEF’s Wearables for Good Challenge. Appearance, pulse, grimace, activity and respiratory data is captured, via a patch, during the first day of life. Any deterioration triggers an immediate text alert to a carer. Globally, more […]
All too often we hear about a baby, or person who is unable to speak for him/herself, being left in a hot car, and dying. ApplySci applauds Evenflo for creating a car seat with a very simple notification sensor that could prevent this. The Embrace DLX seat, with SensorSafe technology, generates a series of tones when a […]