Stanford University researchers have developed stretchable stick-on, wearable sensors to track health and beam these readings to an RFID receiver on a person¡¯s clothing. (Bao Lab, Stanford University)

Stanford University engineers have developed a way to detect physiological signals emanating from the skin, using stick-on sensors that beam wireless readings to a receiver clipped onto clothing.

Stanford University chemical engineering professor Zhenan Bao, whose lab described the system in an Aug. 15 article in Nature Electronics, believes the wearable technology, called BodyNet, will be initially deployed in medical settings such as monitoring patients with sleep disorders or heart conditions. Her lab is already trying to develop new stickers to sense sweat and other secretions to track variables such as body temperature and stress. Bao would like to create an array of stick-on wireless sensors that work in conjunction with smart clothing to more accurately track a wider range of health indicators currently available smart phones or watches.

¡°We think one day it will be possible to create a full-body skin-sensor array to collect physiological data without interfering with a person¡¯s normal behavior,¡± said Bao in a statement. 

Because user comfort was a concern, research team leaders Simiao Niu and Naoji Matsuhisa, both postdoctoral scholars, set out to develop a technology that would have no batteries or rigid circuits to prevent the stickers from stretching and contracting with the skin.

A key hurdle was creating a flexible antenna that could stretch and bend like skin, which the scientists accomplished by screen-printing metallic ink>To accomplish this, researchers settled>To demonstrate the wearable technology, the researchers stuck sensors to the wrist and abdomen of>The initial version of the stickers relied on tiny motion sensors to take respiration and pulse readings. The researchers are now studying how to integrate sweat, temperature and other sensors into their antenna systems.

@Spencer Chin