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Monitor Your Health 24x7 With the WIN Human Recorder
kkleiner writes "Japanese venture firm WIN Human Recorder Ltd is set to bring a health monitor patch to market that is capable of keeping tabs on all your vitals. The HRS-I is a small (30mm x 30mm x 5mm) lightweight (7g) device that adheres to your chest and relays the data it collects to a computer or mobile phone via wireless connection. While the HRS-I only directly monitors electrocardiograph information, body surface temperature, and movement (via accelerometers), it can connect to sensors for heart rate, brain waves, respiration and many other important health indicators. WIN is selling the HRS-I for around ¥30,000 (~$330) and providing monitoring software for around ¥10,000 (~$110)."
can anyone say advertiser's dream? So now they can tell what you like by heart rate, skin temp and brain waves.
perfect, so it gives you a tumor to monitor...
I wonder if this could be used as a sort of cheap way to evaluate problems like sleep apnea. It seems to support most of the read-outs that you'd need to examine. Of course, it doesn't replace a medical evaluation, as interpretation of the results can be tricky. But, it might be a good way for someone who's uninsured to get some data.
This is old news, and just a variation on a theme -
As somebody who does this sort of stuff for a living - now they need to get around the IEC-60601 compliance and the FDA before they could introduce it in the USA.
http://www.devicelink.com/mddi/archive/03/09/015.html [devicelink.com]
Something similar is in the works for hospital use:
http://www.soterawireless.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55&Itemid=18 [soterawireless.com]
That goes out over WiFi inside a hospital.
Also - Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) is designed for this application and there are a bunch of "health monitors either int the works, or already out there for this:
http://mobihealthnews.com/2577/continua-picks-zigbee-bluetooth-le-for-health-devices-sensors/ [mobihealthnews.com]
Blood Glucose monitors using this technology have been around for a while:
http://www.dexcom.com/default.aspx [dexcom.com]
Now if you want exciting - research into electronic eyes, electronic ears and neural pacemaker for people with epilepsy are kind of interesting. Google them and you will find them.
Got your Borg Implants? :-)
www.effectiveelectrons.com "chips that work" Analog, RF, Mixed Signal
Now, to get a discount on your car insurance, they ask for mileage. Its a nice idea, if you drive less you are less at risk of getting into an accident. Or at least that is the thought.
It is a small jump to use these devices to "report your mileage" to the health insurance companies for a reduced fee. Mark this comment people, in a few years....
A tennis ball sized probe that was inserted rectally. The worst part was the external antenna.
...hopefully wasn't done using the slashdot crowd. Imagine the embarrassment after sending it back for re-engineering 30x over only to discover the test subjects were genuinely immobile with a constant level of activity in front of a workstation for 14 hours a day.
*despair*
built-in lie detector anyone?? ;)
Do the obese get their health monitored with the FAIL Human Recorder?
Anybody want my mod points?
The Japanese are probably the single most proactive nation in the world when it comes to the aging of population and proper care of the elderly, and this invention has some very obvious uses in this field. Coupled with a caretaker robot which would remind about medicines, schedule appointments with a doctor and call emergency services as appropriate, this device might actually improve the quality of life of some people considerably. Interestingly, such robots are already being tested in Japan, and they are also designed to relay local news, play logic- and memory-based games and engage in everyday chitchat with the people under their care to delay the onset of dementia and effects of boredom.
This is Slashdot. Common sense is futile. You will be modded down.
What you would do is take the results to an MD. Lots of tests involve measurements you make yourself at home. I usually bring my doctor a record of blood pressure readings.
But there's a big problem here. This device will be sold to people who are worried about potential problems and think that if they get enough data they can know exactly what their health state is. (There's already a thriving business in "preventive" full body MRIs that cater to such folks.) They might seem like a good idea, if you can afford it, but it's not. Everybody has anomalies in their body, and too much proactive diagnosis can lead to unnecessary procedures. In some cases these procedures are more dangerous than benign neglect.
There are certainly preventive procedures that make sense. (He says hypocritically, as he puts off the colonoscopy he should have had done a year ago.) But medicine is still very much a black art, and the Star Trek model of pointing a magic gadget at somebody and knowing exactly what's going on in their body is still a fantasy — and probably always will be. So gathering tons of data about potential problems you have no reason to suspect is worse than useless.
Actually, I kinda like the idea of this. So long as the channel is secured with strong encryption.... But having a device log data and an application parse it for potential heart disease is a must-have application.
Life is not for the lazy.
This is why we need a health paln and not republican any system with out a ban on pre existing conditions is no Plan.
This was done 11 years ago but, due to the technology of the time, we used a device a little larger than a modern smart phone that recorded information. It plugged into a base station to transfer data over POTS. Once the base station connected to a medical facility over the telephone, information could be sent in real time from the device. It could do ECG, blood oximetry, heart rate, core body temperature and respiration. The base station could take blood pressure, oral temperature and weight. It all worked well.
Lawyers got involved and the system, along with the company, disappeared. Glad to see it back in a smaller wireless package -- even if it did take 11 years!
This is not the only project I've been involved with that was a decade or more ahead of it's time. I can't help but wonder how many wonderful things have been buried by litigation over the years.
And of course, better keyboards.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
So, does each of these things want its own IP address? If so, these could accelerate adoption of IPv6.
BodyMedia has been the leader in making consumer usable technology to monitor 24x7. Check out www.bodymedia.com for more information. They manufacture GoWear fit, BodyMedia FIT, and the Bodybugg, They are also FDA regulated and have an accuracy of 90% for daily caloric burn and minutes of activity data.
Mine would be a continuous alarm tone - who could stand listening to that!
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
I much prefer my FAIL recorder.
In the beginning, there was null.
Big deal. I could already buy a wristwatch that does most of this, for less money.
Friend bought a new running-treadmill with this sort of stuff built in. It had to go back twice for unreliable readings. That's what he said. You've guessed it - he's now doing well after heart bypass surgery.
Ok, the technology is here. Now, where can I sign up for my DocWagon contract?
There's also IEEE 802.15.6, "a [developing] communication standard optimized for low power devices and operation on, in or around the human body (but not limited to humans) to serve a variety of applications including medical, consumer electronics / personal entertainment ..."
Companies interested in making on-body patches and plasters for medical applications are quite active in this group.
They're already doing that with cars - as if your ECU now acting like a mini flight data recorder wasn't enough, they want to put GPS tracking units in your car.
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Insurance/InsureYourCar/WillYourCarRatYouOut.aspx
Oh and if you have bad credit the dealer may install one too:
http://blogs.computerworld.com/gps_tracking_privacy_violation
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
One of my favorite Sci-fi techs was in 'Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom' by Cory Doctorow and I'm certain in many other novels that i can't remember or haven't read yet. Monitor your heartrate, adreneline levels, etc... and both display any warning messages via your optical nerve as well as dispensing drugs to counter any problems pro-actively. 'You have a fever and an ear infection, dispensing anti-biotics in appropriate dosage'. Or, 'irregular heart rate detected, contact medical help immediately, ready to upload data'. This is the first time i've seen something even close to that for the consumer. Tie the software into your mobile device to page you when it detects irregularities and all that is left is dispensing the drugs. We'll need tort reform in the US of A before that part is ready but we will someday get there. Cool!
They need to double the price, and market it to triathletes. We seem to love having all kinds of data, and a powertap hub is like crack. Once you start getting wattage, you are lost to the world. Imagine what this would do....
Remember, it's not hypercondria if you really are dying.