Sweat sensor to help make sure players are fully fuelled for training and game time
GraphWear Technologies, the Penn University startup we spoke to earlier this year, is putting its innovative wearable sensor patch that monitors hydration to good use by trialling it with an NFL team.
The SweatSmart device is made from graphene, a magic material that has the potential to change the way wearable tech looks, feels and works.
It works by placing the patch on the lower back, which is said to be the sweatiest place on the body. It then links to a companion smartphone app that can monitor glucose and electrolyte levels in real time. The idea is that by analysing a player’s sweat, it can help determine when to top up on fluids.
Read this: Why hydration monitoring matters according to LVL
GraphWear hopes to launch a beta version of the wearable aimed at athletes with plans to deliver a final device in 2018. At the Wearable Technologies Conference in San Francisco, founder Saurabh Radhakrishnan explained the biology behind SweatSmart:
“When you start exercising your liver pumps glucose into the blood stream to compensate for energy you’re losing. You should never go below where you started, and we can tell an athlete whether that’s happening,” said Radhakrishnan.
“We’re aiming to make sweat work for you and analyse your performance in real-time. You patch it on and sync with your smartphone.”
The idea of monitoring hydration is relatively new to the world of wearables but could be a big trend in 2017. BSX Athletics, a company based out of Austin, Texas is currently raising big bucks on Kickstarter for its LVL hydration monitor. In a recent survey, hydration tracking featured high on a wish list for next gen wearables.
So perhaps it won’t be too long before we’re seeing a Fitbit or an Apple Watch tapping into our sweat to add another layer of useful biometric data we can check in on 24/7.
Source: Med City News
