NEW YORK: Engineers working on developing an advanced sensor capable of monitoring the body’s electrical and biochemical signals have come up with a design that acts like the tricorder device seen in Star Trek.
The tricorder device in Star Trek is one of those gadgets from cult science-fiction that has been touted as having been well before its time, given that it was able to gather readings of its surroundings, and vitals from the human body.
Engineers from the University of California San Diego have spent some time trying to crack such a concept in real life, and may have done just that, with a little help from a smartphone.
According to the engineers, they have developed a flexible wearable device capable of monitoring both biochemical and electric signals in the human body, which is a first in the field of wearable sensors.
Detailing the concept in a paper, the researchers explain that the patch, dubbed Chem-Phys, is designed to record electrocardiogram (ECG) heart signals and track levels of lactate, a biochemical that is produced during physical exertion.