Google has joined Samsonite to make a smart backpack, called the Konnect-I, that controls your phone. Konnect-I controls various functions on your phone that you would normally touch the screen or use your voice to interact with. This backpack implements the use of Google's Jacquard technology, which adds touch sensitivity to fabrics.

Read more: Google Is Working On A New Generation Of Wearables, Including Holographic Glasses And Smart Tattoos

The heart of Jacquard is the Jacquard Tag, a tiny computer that makes everyday things more helpful. The tag needs to be charged via a mini-USB port. It relays notifications through its built-in LED and a small vibration motor. On the Konnect-I backpack, the tag is fitted onto the left strap, and wearers can customize which of their gestures should unlock specific actions on their phones.

If you want to control music, you need to brush up and down the strap. You double tap on the strap to take a selfie, or open Google Assistant to hear the latest news. An LED on the strap is also set to light up according to the alerts set by the user, reports ZENet.

The backpack comes in handy for hikers. They can configure it to receive turn-by-turn directions while on the go, without needing to look at their phone's navigation.

Since its introduction in 2017, Jacquard smart fiber technology has made its way into a wide-ranging list of products. It was first used on the sleeve of a jacket so that it could recognize the gestures of the person wearing it. The same technology was later used on Cit-E backpack with Saint Laurent. Then Google collaborated with Adidas and EA on their GMR shoe insert, enabling its wearers to combine real-life play with the EA SPORTS FIFA mobile game.

Read more: Google Partnering with Adidas and EA Sports to Launch New Smart Insole that Tracks Soccer Skill‍

The Konnect-I backpack comes in two styles: Slim ($199) and Standard ($219). The slim version has a vertical zipper and the standard version a horizontal one.

Masimo announced the launch of its Radius Tº™ Continuous Thermometer for consumers. Unlike spot-check, episodic thermometers, the wearable, wireless Radius Tº measures body temperature continuously and transmits data and customizable temperature notifications to the user’s smartphone, thus helping to monitor temperature during sleep, reports BusinessWire. The thermometer can be used by anyone from children to elderly adults.

Joe Kiani, Founder and CEO of Masimo, said, “We’re excited to expand our growing line of consumer solutions, which includes MightySat and Masimo Sleep, with the Radius Tº Continuous Thermometer. For years, clinicians have trusted Masimo technology to monitor patients in the hospital. With Radius Tº and our other consumer solutions, we’re bringing our expertise and experience in accurately and reliably measuring physiological data from the hospital to the home.”

Read more Masimo Announces Bridge, A Wearable Neurostimulation Device That Reduces Opioid Withdrawal Symptoms

Radius Tº eliminates manual measurements while providing continuous insight into changes in the user’s temperature. In addition, Radius Tº uses proprietary algorithms to provide body temperature measurements for users five years or older that approximate oral temperature, not just external skin temperature. Radius Tº provides temperature measurements with laboratory accuracy within ±0.1ºC, whereas other oral thermometry solutions typically have laboratory accuracy within ±0.2ºC.

Earlier this year, Masimo launched Radius Tº as part of the Masimo SafetyNet™ remote patient management solution, for use both in hospitals and by patients at home. Dr. Neal Fleming, M.D., Ph.D., Vice-Chair for Education in the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at UC Davis Health, commenting on his experience using Radius Tº, said, “Radius Tº is noninvasive and convenient for patients. I do not have to interrupt their daily activities or their sleep and it provides me continuous trend data that is a powerful guide to patient care. It makes it easier for me to recognize possible changes in their symptoms.”

The disposable Radius Tº sensor is flexible and slim, and can be worn comfortably for up to eight days, and is water-resistant during shower and exercise. Users are free to carry on with their daily activities and sleep, without interruption or hassle – all while Radius Tº continuously collects temperature data. Using built-in Bluetooth®, the sensor easily pairs with the Masimo Radius Tº App on the user’s smartphone.

Read more: Masimo SedLine in Combination with O3 Regional Oximetry Helps Surgeons Understand Cerebral Desaturations During Cardiac Surgery

Radius Tº isn’t FDA 510(k) cleared yet. The device is marketed under the FDA’s Enforcement Policy for Clinical Electronic Thermometers During COVID-19. Radius Tº is CE marked for use in Europe.

Sam wearable ultrasound by ZetrOZ Systems is a long-duration ultrasound technology that helps athletes avoid surgery while accelerating natural healing. This is extremely valuable in cases of acute and chronic pain, especially those that involve soft tissue damage.

Read more: Wearables In Combination With Digital Technology Offers Huge Opportunities For Non-Invasive Pain Management

The sam technology is utilized by 90% of professional sports medical physicians and is covered by insurance for all professional and collegiate athletes. Each treatment delivers 18,720 joules of energy and can be used to treat injured sites throughout the body including the elbow, Achilles, patella, shoulder and bicep tendons, as well as trapezius, hamstring, and quadriceps muscles.

“sam has disrupted the medical industry in a great way," said Dr. George Lewis, CEO of ZetrOZ Systems. "Our mission is to treat 100 million patients without surgery and drugs. With our technology, we are on our way to becoming the new normal in the pain rehabilitation space for competitive athletes at both the collegiate and professional level.”

sam® ultrasound has been used by multiple D1-level athletic programs, including Texas Christian University's (TCU) football team, says a press release.

"The sam® ultrasound unit has been a valuable piece of equipment that we regularly utilize for our athletes," said Thomas Rice, assistant athletic trainer for TCU Football. "It has been especially helpful in the treatment of chronic tendinopathies. Our athletes like the small size, portability, convenience, and easy application."

The TCU Frogs football team and training staff have used the sam® ultrasound to treat a long-term patellar tendinopathy in the case of one athlete, who felt better after a single week of use. The staff also was able to use the technology to perform phonophoresis.

Read more: NeuroMetrix Introduces Quell 2.0 Wearable AI Pain Relief Technology

"Our players have reported a decrease in pain and soreness in acute and chronic cases," said assistant athletic trainer Dillon E. Smith.

Researchers at Wyss Institute have found that wearable technology is suitable to accurately track motor recovery of individuals with brain injury and thus allow clinicians to choose more effective interventions and to improve outcomes. Paolo Bonato, Ph.D., Director of the Spaulding Motion Analysis Lab is the lead researcher and a senior author on the study, which was a collaborative effort under students and former students connected to the Motion Analysis Lab under faculty mentorship.

Read more SynPhNe Wearable Trains Brain And Muscle As One System, Helps With Stroke Rehabilitation

“By providing clinicians precise data will enable them to design more effective interventions to improve the care we deliver,” says Bonato, who is also an Associate Faculty member at Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. “To have so many of our talented young scientists and researchers from our lab collaborate to create this meaningful paper is especially gratifying for all of our faculty who support our ongoing research enterprise.”

Catherine Adans-Dester, P.T., Ph.D., a member of Dr. Bonato’s team served as lead author on the manuscript. “The need to develop patient-specific interventions is apparent when one considers that clinical studies often report satisfactory motor gains only in a portion of participants, which suggests that clinical outcomes could be improved if we had better tools to develop patient-specific interventions. Data collected using wearable sensors provides clinicians with the opportunity to do so with little burden on clinicians and patients,” said Dr. Adans-Dester. The approach proposed in the paper relied on machine learning-based algorithms to derive clinical score estimates from wearable sensor data collected during functional motor tasks. Sensor-based score estimates showed strong agreement with those generated by clinicians, reports Wyss Institute.

The results of the study demonstrated that wearable sensor data can be used to derive accurate estimates of clinical scores utilized in the clinic to capture the severity of motor impairments and the quality of upper-limb movement patterns. In the study, the upper-limb Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) scale was used to generate clinical scores of the severity of motor impairments, and the Functional Ability Scale (FAS) was used to generate clinical scores of the quality of movement.

Read more: Connextyle Smart Shirt Provides Multi-Sensory Healing For Stroke Patients

Wearable sensor data (i.e., accelerometer data) was collected during the performance of eight functional motor tasks taken from the Wolf-Motor Function Test, thus providing a sample of gross arm movements and fine motor control tasks. Machine learning-based algorithms were developed to derive accurate estimates of the FMA and FAS clinical scores from the sensor data. A total of 37 study participants (16 stroke survivors and 21 traumatic brain injury survivors) participated in the study.

The findings of the study were published in Nature Digital Medicine.

Moodbeam, a Hull-based health tech start-up, which produces wearable mental wellbeing devices, has received £450k (US$583k) in investment. It follows two rounds of investment totaling £450,000 from NPIF-Mercia Equity Finance, which is managed by Mercia Fund Managers and is part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund.

Moodbeam has developed a new model to help businesses and their staff during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The support from NPIF and Mercia has been incredible. These investments have helped us to continue to innovate and grow throughout our journey, bringing a valuable product to market at a crucial time for us all,” said Christina Colmer McHugh, Founder and Director at Moodbeam. “This pandemic saw employers around the world enter completely unchartered waters and, in many cases, the ability to gauge the emotional wellbeing of team members from physical cues was lost overnight. Our device has been a lifeline for those businesses and individuals and we’re incredibly proud of that.”

Read more: Swedish Startup Flow’s Mental Health App Now Available For NHS Recommendations

The innovative wearable device, called Moodbeam One, was originally designed to allow users to log their mood and monitor their emotional wellbeing – or that of their children, students, patients, or employees. The device then links to an app, giving real-time insights into how someone’s moods change over time and showing them patterns and trends to help them make positive changes.

The company was founded in 2016 by the Gadget Shop founder and Red5 co-founder Jonathan Elvidge, and former journalist Christina Colmer McHugh, who came up with the idea after her daughter began experiencing anxiety in school.

The initial £200,000 investment in 2019 saw Moodbeam bring its device to market following 18 months of prototype testing. The additional £250,000 funding later that year – £50,000 of which was through NPIF and £200,000 from a high net worth angel investor – provided the resources to develop the dashboard and identify the next iteration of the device and prospective markets.

When the latest production version landed in Q3 2019, a fifth of the stock was pre-ordered by both consumers and organizations. New features in 2020 include a real-time dashboard for team leaders and managers to see quantifiable data across teams to help identify issues or concerns as they happen. These features are already being trialed in the construction and banking industry.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Moodbeam’s new organizational model that has sold in hundreds, rather than single amounts. It has helped businesses stay in real-time contact with their staff members while working remotely, as well as monitoring the health and wellbeing of frontline staff. Consumers have also purchased the device through the Moodbeam website shop and distributor Amazon.

Read more: Sentio Raises $4.5M, Launches Feel to Expand Access to Mental Health Care

In addition to product development, the NPIF investment has allowed the company to double its headcount in 18 months, from two co-founders to four full-time members of staff and multiple contractors.

Popularity of soft robotics is growing rapidly. Now a team of researchers from Yale University have made a breakthrough in this field with a robotic fabric that can be used as adaptive clothing, self-deploying shelters, or lightweight shape-changing machinery.

Read more: Silicone 3D Printing Paving The Way for Soft Robotics And Wearables

The robotic fabric made at the lab of Prof. Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio includes actuation, sensing, and variable stiffness fibers while retaining all the qualities that make the fabric so useful - flexibility, breathability, small storage footprint, and low weight. The researchers demonstrated their robotic fabric going from a piece of flat, ordinary fabric to a standing, load-bearing structure. They also showed a wearable robotic tourniquet and a small airplane with stowable/deployable fabric wings. The results are published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reports Yale.

The researchers focused on processing functional materials into fiber-form so they could be integrated into fabrics while retaining its advantageous properties. For example, they made variable stiffness fibers out of an epoxy embedded with particles of Field’s metal, an alloy that liquefies at relatively low temperatures. When cool, the particles are solid metal and make the material stiffer; when warm, the particles melt into liquid and make the material softer.

“Our Field’s metal-epoxy composite can become as flexible as latex rubber or as stiff as hard acrylic, over 1,000 times more rigid, just by heating it up or cooling it down,” said Trevor Buckner, a graduate student in Kramer-Bottiglio’s lab and lead author on the paper. “Long fibers of this material can be sewn onto a fabric to give it a supportive skeleton that we can turn on and off.” These on-demand support fibers allow a robotic fabric to be bent or twisted and then locked into shape, or hold loads that would otherwise collapse a typical fabric.

To create sensors that detect internal or environmental changes and allow the fabric to respond appropriately, the researchers developed a conductive ink based on a Pickering emulsion, which lowers the ink viscosity and also enables the use of non-toxic solvents. With this ink, the researchers can paint the sensors directly onto the fabric.

“The conductive composite self-coagulates around the individual fibers and does not notably change the porosity of the fabric,” said Kramer-Bottiglio, the John J. Lee Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science. “The sensors are visible, but don’t change the texture or breathability of the fabric, which is important for comfort in wearable applications.”

To make the fabric move, the researchers used shape-memory alloy (SMA) wire, which can return to a programmed shape after being deformed. SMA wire is usually programmed into coils or meshes to generate contracting motion, but this approach was not desirable as it caused the fabric to bunch up unpredictably.

“Instead of using the coil technique, we flattened the wires out into ribbons to give them a geometry much more suited to smooth bending motion, which is perfect for robotic fabrics,” said Buckner.

Read more: ReStore Exosuit, the First Soft Robotic System for Stroke Therapy Gets FDA Clearance

As the project was funded by the Air Force Office of Science Research, the researchers envision applications such deployable and adaptive structures, active compression garments, smart cargo webbing, and reconfigurable RF antennas. “We believe this technology can be leveraged to create self-deploying tents, robotic parachutes, and assistive clothing,” says Kramer-Bottiglio. “Fabrics are a ubiquitous material used in a wide range of products, and the ability to ‘roboticize’ some of these products opens up many possibilities.”

Ultimate Ears, a custom in-ear monitor, speaker, and earphone manufacturer, based in Newark, California, introduced UE FITS, the first-ever true wireless earphones with an instant custom fit. Similar to fingerprints, each person’s individual ear is unique. UE FITS mold to perfectly fit individual ears in less than a minute with its patented Lightform technology. This goes beyond the standard tip sizes of small, medium, and large. From podcasts and playlists on morning commutes to conference calls while working from home or rocking that evening run, these instant, fit-for-only-you earbuds will stay in place for all-day comfort and deliver an exceptional audio experience.

Read more: Samsung Launches First All-In-One PMIC for Wireless Earbuds

“We are redefining wireless earphones with UE FITS,” said Jonah Staw, General Manager and Head of Ultimate Ears Custom Earphones. “For the first time ever, we are bringing instant custom fit to premium earbuds. With the press of a button and in under 60 seconds, consumers can experience exceptional comfort and sound quality from earphones that perfectly fit the unique shape of their ears.”

The UE FITS app connects to the earbuds and triggers the embedded LEDs, which emit a gentle purple glow. Lightform technology uses light to harden the gel-filled tips to the contours of each ear, transforming them into earbuds that perfectly fit the consumer’s ear in under 60 seconds. This personalized fit provides wearable comfort free of pressure, pain or irritation, even after extended use. UE FITS also offers superior passive noise isolation as the fitted tips create a natural seal that blocks ambient noise, reports BusinessWire.

Built on the acoustic expertise that designs performance-level in-ear monitors for professional musicians, UE FITS are engineered with premium single dynamic 10mm drivers that provide a sound signature that is full, warm, and detailed with deep, tight, and punchy bass.

UE FITS delivers up to eight hours of continuous listening on a single charge. Through additional charges from the compact case, UE FITS offers over 20 hours of playback. You can play/pause music and answer calls directly from the earbuds. You can also customize the earbud control buttons using the UE FITS app; to activate voice assistant, skip tracks or control volume. With strategically-positioned dual microphones, the earphones are designed to reduce wind noise and enhance call clarity in any situation.

Read more: Aipower Wearbuds: Truly Wireless Earbuds Housed in a Fitness Band

Pricing and Availability

UE FITS are available for preorder now at an introductory price of $249.00 from the Ultimate Ears website. UE FITS are available in the U.S. only and will ship this fall. The lightweight earbuds are available in three colors: Cloud (Grey), Dawn (Lilac), and Eclipse (Navy).

The 2020 London Marathon is set for 4 October, having been postponed from the traditional April scheduling due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The organizers of the event announced that they will use distance-measuring ‘Bump’ devices to keep roughly 100 athletes safe as they participate in the men’s, women’s and wheelchair races. The 500 members of the staff will also wear Bump, which can monitor the frequency and length of time that runners and staff stay within a set distance of each other as well.

Read more: Safe Spacer Wearable Helps Workers And Others Maintain Social Distance Amid COVID-19 Outbreak

Developed by a British company called Tharsus, Bump has already been deployed in Ocado, BT and other businesses.

According to the Bump website, the device can be worn around the neck like a lanyard, or clipped onto a piece clothing. It lights up and makes a sound when the user gets too close to someone else.

The London Marathon usually takes over the city, but this year the race will be confined to a course that loops around St James’s Park 19.6 times. There won’t be any spectators, but fans can still keep up via the BBC’s live coverage, according to Report Door.

The London Marathon is the first “Major” — a running event classification that includes New York City, Chicago and Berlin, among others — since the Tokyo Marathon on March 1st. London had hoped to hold a mass participation event using the Bump wearables. But the spread of the virus, coupled with the ever-changing restrictions in the UK, have forced the organizers to adopt a similar ‘virtual’ event for amateurs.

More than 45,000 people have signed up to run the first virtual London Marathon this year.

“The response has been amazing and the spirit of the London Marathon will shine brightly across the globe on Sunday 4 October,” Hugh Brasher, event director for the Virgin Money London Marathon, said in a statement.

Read more: Estimote Introduces Wearables To Monitor Workplace Contact Between Employees to Curb COVID-19 Outbreak

“We believe it is the biggest virtual marathon ever staged. It is also the most inclusive race in our history with runners having 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds to complete the 42km.

“We hope that millions will be raised for charities by our participants and we look forward to sharing their stories.”

The value of North America's wearable band market in Q2 2020 remained flat year-on-year at US$2 billion, despite shipments growing 10% annually, according to technology market analyst firm Canalys. Samsung lost a huge chunk of its market share through the period, as Americans went for cheaper trackers that were priced below US$50.

Read more: Contactless Payment System Will Drive Payment-Enabled Wearables Market to US$7.2 Billion in 2024

Apple Watch Series 5 was North America’s best-selling smartwatch, matching last year’s Series 4 shipments. The average selling price declined 11% to US$235 due to a boom in low-end activity trackers and 30% year-on-year growth for Apple Watch Series 3.

North America was only one of two regions to grow quarter-on-quarter, demonstrating sustained consumer demand for wrist-worn devices. As consumers scrutinized personal budgets, their thrift fueled a remarkable growth among the long-tail of lesser-known brands of activity trackers on e-commerce platforms like Amazon, reports Canalys.

“Americans invested heavily in sub-US$50 trackers during the pandemic to stay accountable for the greater amount of time spent at home,” said Canalys Analyst Vincent Thielke. “Amazon’s Q3 introduction of the Halo tracker was timely, following two back-to-back quarters of strong activity tracker sales. Subscription-based companion apps helped Fitbit and less-familiar players like Whoop better differentiate themselves against the vast array of devices sold online. Turnkey service offerings proved a surprising pandemic winner as social distancing discouraged personal trainers and exercising in close proximity to others.”

Read more: The 5 Best Smartwatches And Fitness Trackers For Women In 2020

The surge in basic bands offset the United States’ third consecutive quarter of smartwatch decline, triggered by the clearing-out of channel inventory as Samsung and Fitbit prepared August releases. WearOS brands also greatly reduced sell-in because of store closures, but also as they began transitioning to Qualcomm’s next-generation chip. As all major vendors set their sights on 2021, medical-oriented devices will move certain products into an elevated tier, creating stronger differentiation between casual fitness and advanced health tracking.

The growing adoption of wearable technology across the healthcare sector will drive the global wearable cardiac devices market share, according to a new report by Global Market Insights Inc. In the report, the wearable cardiac devices market was valued at more than $1.2bn in 2019 and is likely to expand at a healthy CAGR of 24.2%, reaching $6.4bn by 2026.

Read more: Wearable Medical Devices Market to Surpass $29 Billion by 2026, According to Transparency Market Research

“Recent wearable devices in the form of skin patches are small, light-weight, and non-invasive. The patient does not need to go through painful implantation procedures for continuous recording of cardiac parameters. As a result of non-invasive and user-friendly nature of such wearable technology, the devices are gaining high recognition as well as demand in the recent years and will continue to spur in the future,” reports GlobeNewsWire.

The defibrillators market is projected to proceed at more than 22% CAGR during the forecast years. According to the World Health Organization, about four of the five cardiovascular deaths are due to strokes or heart attacks. Devices including Zoll LifeVest Wearable Defibrillator continuously monitor the heart rhythm of the patient prone to heart attack and delivers a shock in case the patient does not respond after several warnings. Such devices assist patients at high risk of heart attack with timely measures even in absence of a cardiologist, thus providing am immense potential for segment growth.

Home healthcare segment held over 25% revenue share in 2019. High convenience, easy handling, and effective monitoring at home are some of the foremost advantages driving the adoption of wearable cardiac devices in-home healthcare. Furthermore, increasing disposable income and lesser visits to healthcare settings further add up to the benefits, thereby surging customer preference for these devices.

Read more: Hearing Aids Market to Grow Up to $14.45 Billion by 2026, According to Fortune Business Insights

North America's wearable cardiac devices market constituted more than 60% market share in 2019 and expected to grow at a momentous rate in the future. The launch of innovative devices driven by a growing number of new entrants and the changing digital health industry in the U.S. will primarily boost market growth. Moreover, significant awareness levels pertaining to wearable technology will further influence the business expansion in the region.

KINETIC, a NY-based wearable device maker that provides safety wearables for industrial workers, has partnered with JLG Industries, to deploy its Reflex smart wearable at JLG facilities. In alignment with their people-first culture, JLG has deployed the KINETIC Reflex devices on the shop floor to provide team members with instant feedback on high-risk ergonomic postures.

Read more: Kinetic raises $4.5M for its Wearable REFLEX Aimed at Reducing Workplace Injuries

JLG Industries will collect information from the Reflex device to significantly reduce the number of high-risk movements across the facility. Additionally, the JLG team is piloting a new feature of the KINETIC Reflex device that alerts team members in real-time when they are within six feet of each other. “Safer at Six” practices are being embraced across all Oshkosh facilities to provide real-time alerts and contact logging capabilities to fight against COVID-19 outbreaks.

The KINETIC Reflex is a discrete smart wearable that is worn on belts or waistbands of industrial workers. It automatically detects unsafe work postures and provides users with real-time feedback to reduce injuries and create better work habits. The technology was recently updated with proximity alert features to enable workers to practice proper social distancing and to help keep them safe during this pandemic. With this feature, workers are notified of potential risk via a gentle vibration if they are too close to one another, reports GlobeNewsWire.

Additionally, KINETIC features a software analytics platform that enables management to seamlessly conduct contact tracing and produce detailed reports on each interaction. If a worker tests positive for the virus, management can protect their workforce by exporting a list of everyone who could have potentially been exposed, as well as the duration of the contact.

“Safety is an uncompromised value at JLG, and we are excited to partner with the KINETIC team to leverage their technology during these extraordinary times, said Shawn Knox, VP Global Operations for JLG Industries. “Working together to utilize this technology for traceability, while we navigate the challenges of COVID-19, strengthens our commitment to safety and our appreciation for KINETIC in the safety innovation space.”

The KINETIC Reflex has been worn by tens of thousands of workers in hundreds of facilities all around the world in a variety of industries. It has reduced injury rates by 56% while simultaneously increasing team productivity rates by 5%.

Read more: How Companies Are Using Wearable Tech To Bring Employees Back To Work

“We created the KINETIC Reflex to reduce workplace injuries for the industrial workforce. Once COVID-19 spread, customers started reaching out asking if we could use the devices to help with social distancing and contact tracing,” said KINETIC co-founder and CEO, Haytham Elhawary. “That really inspired us to enhance the technology with new COVID-19 safety features, and we’re excited to deploy it to JLG and their workforce, who have been a partner.”

Researches in the medical field are causing a rise in wearables and soft robotics. Recent research published in Nature explains how soft materials can be fabricated with micron resolution for complex systems like robotics and next-generation wearables.

Additive manufacturing has a wide range of applications and addresses many challenges inherited from conventional molding techniques such as human error, multistep fabrication, and manual handling. However, 3D printing soft functional robots with two-part platinum cure silicones require development to match the material performance of the molded counterparts.

Read more: Fraunhofer’s Soft Robotic Wearable System Protects Workers from Back Injury

Based on previously published work, the researchers selected a thiol-ene silicone formulation that possessed excellent printability (low viscosity, rapid gelation, and high reaction conversion). They employed the use of a materials platform consisting of silicone double networks (SilDNs), offering low elastic moduli and strength not found in previous SLA elastomers. Furthermore, while meeting the process requirements of SLA, these SilDNs are also compatible with less restrictive additive manufacturing techniques like UV-curing injection molding.

“The combination of low moduli, high toughness, and high tear resistance is desirable when printing soft robotic and biomedical devices,” said the researchers. “Unlike other materials where the 3D printing process can impart anisotropy or alter performance, SilDNs can possess similar properties regardless of print orientation or layer height. These findings suggest that the condensation network crosslinks across printed layers.”

Sensors and soft actuators need tear resistance and the ability to connect to stretchable fabrics. Therefore, a good elastomer-textile bond is necessary for these devices. Wearables must be able to hold up under wear and tear and donning and doffing cycles, reports 3Dprint.com.

“By introducing the SilDN framework, we note opportunities to improve process speed and final material properties. While the photopolymerization kinetics of the thiol-ene network enables rapid 3D printing, the tin-catalyzed condensation network forms over a period of hours to prolong total manufacturing time,” says the researchers.

Read more: 3D Printing Hits the Big Screen as it Brings Futuristic Wearables to Life in Black Panther

The researcher 3D printed the materials on a modified bottom-up commercial desktop SLA printer (Ember by Autodesk) using a blue-light LED projector modified to use a PMP window. They also added a dye series to refine Z-axis resolution, and then in post-printing, painted the surgical simulator with SilcPigs pigments.

Researchers at RMIT University in Australia have developed electronic artificial skin that reacts to pain just like human skin. The wearable sticker-like device can clear the way for better prosthetics, smarter robotics and noninvasive alternatives to skin grafts, according to a news release.

The device mimics the body’s near-instant feedback response and can react to painful sensations with the same lighting speed that nerve signals travel to the brain, reports RMIT.

Lead researcher Professor Madhu Bhaskaran said the pain-sensing prototype was a significant advance towards next-generation biomedical technologies and intelligent robotics.

Read more: Lily Bioceuticals Announces Wearable 24-Hour Life-Like Synthetic “Second Skin”

“Skin is our body’s largest sensory organ, with complex features designed to send rapid-fire warning signals when anything hurts,” Bhaskaran said. “We’re sensing things all the time through the skin but our pain response only kicks in at a certain point, like when we touch something too hot or too sharp. No electronic technologies have been able to realistically mimic that very human feeling of pain – until now. Our artificial skin reacts instantly when pressure, heat or cold reach a painful threshold.”

In addition to the pain-sensing prototype device, the researchers also developed devices made with stretchable electronics that can sense and respond to changes in temperature and pressure.

Bhaskaran said three functional prototypes were designed to deliver key features of the skin’s sensing capability in electronic form.

The research team hopes that with further development, the stretchable artificial skin could replace skin grafts in cases where a traditional approach might not be feasible.

“We need further development to integrate this technology into biomedical applications but the fundamentals – biocompatibility, skin-like stretchability – are already there,” Bhaskaran said.

Read more: NUS Scientists Develop Electronic Skin with Exceptional Sense of Touch for Prosthetics

The new research, published in Advanced Intelligent Systems and filed as a provisional patent, combines three technologies previously pioneered and patented by the team:

• Stretchable electronics: combining oxide materials with biocompatible silicone to deliver transparent, unbreakable and wearable electronics as thin as a sticker.
• Temperature-reactive coatings: self-modifying coatings 1,000 times thinner than a human hair based on a material that transforms in response to heat.
• Brain-mimicking memory: electronic memory cells that imitate the way the brain uses long-term memory to recall and retain previous information.

The pressure sensor prototype combines stretchable electronics and long-term memory cells, the heat sensor brings together temperature-reactive coatings and memory, while the pain sensor integrates all three technologies.

For criminals who are transitioning from prison back to regular society, starting a new life can be difficult. Researchers from Purdue University Polytechnic Institute have decided to help these people by using artificial intelligence. Their method could help parolees avoid committing crimes after rejoining regular society.

Read more: Purdue Researchers Develop Wearable That May Help Prevent Sudden Death From Epilepsy

Results of a U.S. Department of Justice study indicated more than 80 percent of people in state prisons were arrested at least once in the nine years following their release. Almost half of those arrests came in the first year following release.

Marcus Rogers and Umit Karabiyik of Purdue Polytechnic's Department of Computer and Information Technology, are leading an ongoing project focused on using AI-enabled tools and technology to reduce the recidivism rates for convicted criminals who have been released. They are studying the forensic psychology aspect, by identifying risky behaviors, stressful situations, and other behavioral and physiological factors connected to a risk of individuals returning to criminal behavior, reports Purdue University.

“The goal of the study is to identify opportunities for early intervention to better assist those individuals to integrate back into general society successfully,” said Marcus Rogers, professor of computer and information technology.

"The major reason recidivism is so high is the parolees don't feel like they belong in the community," Karabiyik said. "They have a hard time, and they immediately go back to their old criminal habits. Their old criminal communities are very welcoming."

Parolees will be given bracelets that collect health information, including stress and heart rate. Smartphones carried by each individual will collect information, ranging from where they are at any given time to the photos they may take. The artificial intelligence will be run in intervals with the data examined rather than in real-time.

Rogers said the information will be used to identify risky behaviors, stressful situations, and other behavioral and physiological factors correlated with those individuals at risk of returning to their criminal behavior.

Read more: Stanford’s Artificial Intelligence Institute Aims to Put Humans at the Center of this Field

In addition to determining the factors that draw parolees back, the research also will study the effect of offering assistance to the individuals as they integrate back into society.

For example, Karabiyik said the AI tools could recommend communities or jobs that would work well for the parolees, helping them feel comfortable and eliminating their high-risk status.

Researchers at UT Dallas and their international colleagues have developed a method to create micro LEDs that can be folded, twisted, cut and stuck to different surfaces. Their invention helps pave the way for the next generation of flexible, wearable technology.

Read more: Georgia Tech Research On Flexible Electronics Shows Promise For Spinal Injury Therapies

As they are lightweight, thin, energy-efficient, and visible in different types of lighting, LEDs are ideal components for backlighting and displays in electronic devices. They are typically used in products ranging from brake lights to billboards, reports UT Dallas.

Micro LEDs can be as small as 2 micrometers and bundled to be any size. They provide higher resolution than other LEDs. Their size makes them a good fit for small devices such as smartwatches, but they can be bundled to work in flat-screen TVs and other larger displays. LEDs of all sizes, however, are brittle and typically can only be used on flat surfaces.

“The biggest benefit of this research is that we have created a detachable LED that can be attached to almost anything,” said Dr. Moon Kim, Louis Beecherl Jr. Distinguished Professor of materials science and engineering at UT Dallas and a corresponding author of the study. “You can transfer it onto your clothing or even rubber — that was the main idea. It can survive even if you wrinkle it. If you cut it, you can use half of the LED.”

Researchers in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science and the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics helped develop the flexible LED through a technique called remote epitaxy, which involves growing a thin layer of LED crystals on the surface of a sapphire crystal wafer, or substrate.

Typically, the LED would remain on the wafer. The researchers added a layer, made of a one-atom-thick sheet of carbon called graphene, to prevent the new layer of LED crystals from sticking to the wafer.

Their colleagues in South Korea carried out laboratory tests of LEDs by adhering them to curved surfaces, as well as to materials that were subsequently twisted, bent and crumpled. They also adhered an LED to the legs of a Lego minifigure with different leg positions.

The flexible, bendable LEDs have potential uses in flexible lighting, clothing and wearable biomedical devices. From a manufacturing perspective, the fabrication technique offers another advantage: Because the LED can be removed without breaking the underlying wafer substrate, the wafer can be used repeatedly.

Read more: Fast-Charging Bendable Graphene-Based Supercapacitor Could Power Wearables

“You can use one substrate many times, and it will have the same functionality,” Kim said.

The research was published online in the journal Science Advances.

Withings announced that its ScanWatch has received CE marking for medical devices. It means the smartwatch can be sold in Europe. The watch is now available in Europe for 279€.

Unveiled at the CES 2020, the smartwatch can take ECG, detect sleep apnea and boasts an estimated 12 months of battery life. According to Withings, the ScanWatch is the world's first clinically validated hybrid smartwatch to detect atrial fibrillation (AFib), blood oxygen levels (SpO2), and sleep apnea.

Read more: We’re Maintaining Our Weight and Sleeping More in Quarantine, Withings’ COVID-19 Lockdown Study Reveals

The ScanWatch is still awaiting FDA approval for sale in the US, but hopefully it will be available worldwide soon.

The ScanWatch comes with a PPG sensor, which continuously monitors the wearer’s heart rate and alert them if there’s an irregular heartbeat or arrhythmia. If an arrhythmia is detected the watch prompts the user to take an ECG reading. The user can see the ECG results either on their watch screen or in the watch’s Health Mate app. Afterwards, they can print out a graph of their ECG to send to their doctor.

Sleep apnea is a serious sleep disorder that occurs when a person’s breathing is interrupted during sleep. People with this condition stop breathing repeatedly during their sleep, sometimes hundreds of times. Due to this, the brain and the rest of the body are deprived of enough oxygen. However, eight out of 10 people with this condition aren’t aware that they have, Withings said in the press material.

The SpO2 feature in the watch can measure oxygen saturation continuously and let you know if you’re experiencing any sleep apnea episodes. And like other sleep trackers, the ScanWatch will provide detailed sleep analysis like duration, depth regularity, and interruptions.

Read more: Leading Connected Healthcare Firm Withings Launches B2B Solutions for Healthcare Professionals

“We announced ScanWatch earlier this year to an enthusiastic response. Today, its capabilities to detect heart rhythm disorders as well as to track blood oxygen saturation levels have become even more amplified due to COVID-19,” said Mathieu Letombe, CEO of Withings, reports MobiHealthNews.

“With the CE mark regulatory approval for AFib detection and SpO2 measurement, we are delighted to be able to make ScanWatch available to customers in Europe now, with medical-grade sleep apnea detection coming later this year as well as US availability.”

Biofourmis, which combines AI-based data analytics and biosensors to monitor the progress of medical treatments, has raised $100 million Series C financing round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with participation by existing investors Openspace Ventures, MassMutual Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and EDBI.

Read more: Biofourmis’ AI-Powered Tech Being Used in Remote Monitoring of COVID-19 Patients in Hong Kong

“We believe predictive health is the future of medicine and Biofourmis is a leader in using AI and machine learning-based solutions to advance digital therapeutics," said Greg Moon, Managing Partner, SoftBank Investment Advisers. "We are excited to partner with Biofourmis and support their mission of using AI and wearables data to enable personalized care.”

The company said it will use the money to accelerate its global expansion, advance digital therapeutics pipeline, develop additional care pathways and drive deeper integration with its health system, hospital, pharmaceutical and clinical research clients and partners, according to a press release.

“COVID-19 is pushing remote monitoring and digital therapeutics to the forefront of medicine,” said Biofourmis CEO Kuldeep Singh Rajput. “Our vision is to use digital medicine to empower patients, clinicians and researchers everywhere by providing software-as-a-treatment for patients with unmet clinical needs, from post-acute care to optimal medication therapy.”

In conjunction with the Series C financing announcement, Biofourmis has announced an alignment of its internal operations to enable deeper integration with clients and partners and to support ongoing innovation. The new business structure will include two verticals:

• Biofourmis Therapeutics: Focuses on pioneering an entirely new category of medicine, by developing clinically validated software-based therapeutics to treat and manage patients with unmet clinical needs. These digital therapies work independently or in conjunction with pharmacotherapies—thereby augmenting drug efficacy, reducing costs and resulting in better patient outcomes.
• With Biofourmis Therapeutics' "beyond the pill" model, pharmaceutical companies prescribe the company's digital therapeutics solution as a companion therapeutic with high-value drugs to improve efficacy and to better manage and treat patients with complex chronic conditions.
• Biofourmis Health: Focuses on virtual care models to manage patients remotely as they transition from acute to post-acute care. The company's AI-based Biovitals® Platform is layered with personalized care pathways to manage patients with heart failure, coronary artery disease, respiratory illnesses and cancer, especially those undergoing chemo/radiation therapy or CAR-T treatment.
• Biofourmis Health's "home hospital" initiative leverages the company's AI-based remote monitoring to lower healthcare costs—through reductions in length of stay, readmissions and emergency department visits, among other measures—and to improve patient outcomes by enabling clinicians to remotely monitor patients and intervene up to 21 hours in advance of when a medical crisis would have otherwise occurred.

Read more: Chugai and Biofourmis Collaborating to Develop Digital Solution For Objective Assessment of Pain

“In the last seven months, healthcare has fast-forwarded by at least five years,” Rajput said. "Despite a challenging global economic environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we expect that our latest funding round will accelerate Biofourmis' plans to rapidly scale to support more healthcare provider, pharmaceutical and health plan clients across the world.”

Vuzix announced that Pixee Medical, a France-based medical company, in collaboration with Dr. Jérôme Villeminot and his team from Clinique St Odile in Haguenau, France, have successfully validated a new milestone by using Knee+, the first total knee replacement AR navigation system, solely guided by the Vuzix M400 AR Smart Glasses. The Vuzix M400 Smart Glasses running the Knee+ solution provided real time navigation throughout the surgery, displaying essential augmented reality information in the surgeon's field of view.

Vuzix and Librestream Announce Onsight Cube Thermal Scanner On Vuzix M400 AR Glasses For COVID-19

The most recent surgery also marked the first ambulatory surgery using Pixee's MIS solution.  During the last 2 months, Pixee successfully achieved the first round of the Knee+ clinical validation program. This major milestone starts a second round of validation, opening the way to a first limited commercialization of their innovative solution in November 2020.  Pixee has a growing list of surgeons and orthopedic manufacturers worldwide interested in trying this innovation using the Vuzix M400 Smart Glasses. The combination is compact, easy to use, wireless and does not require disposables, says a press release.

“The team at Pixee Medical created an innovative path to bring the Vuzix M400 Smart Glasses into the operating room to perform knee replacement surgeries and continues to make progress in the operating theater for a variety of uses. We look forward to supporting them in their worldwide distribution of this innovative AR solution,” said Paul Travers, President and Chief Executive Officer at Vuzix.

Read more: Vuzix M400 Smart Glasses Continue Their Expansion Into Remote Care For COVID-19 Patients

If you're interested in learning more about Vuzix Smart Glasses and how they are being used in healthcare, you can register for the upcoming webinar on Vuzix’s website.

“The team at Pixee Medical created an innovative path to bring the Vuzix M400 Smart Glasses into the operating room to perform knee replacement surgeries and continues to make progress in the operating theater for a variety of uses. We look forward to supporting them in their worldwide distribution of this innovative AR solution,” said Paul Travers, President and Chief Executive Officer at Vuzix.

Read more: Vuzix M400 Smart Glasses Continue Their Expansion Into Remote Care For COVID-19 Patients

If you're interested in learning more about Vuzix Smart Glasses and how they are being used in healthcare, you can register for the upcoming webinar on Vuzix’s website.

The COVID-19 pandemic is making companies across the globe search for solutions on how to deal with the crisis. South Korean electronics giant LG want to give new meaning to clean and personal air. The company plans to introduce its PuriCare™ Wearable Air Purifying mask at the IFA 2020. The LG PuriCare will be available starting in the fourth quarter in select markets.

Read more: Face Masks Made Of Electroceutical Fabric Kills Coronavirus On Contact

LG PuriCare resolves the dilemma of homemade masks being of inconsistent quality and disposable masks being in short supply. The PuriCare Wearable Air Purifier employs two H13 HEPA filters, similar to the filters used in the company’s home air purifier products, reports LG.

The PuriCare Wearable uses the latest advancements in air purification, high-performance replaceable filters to supply fresh, clean air indoor and out. With its Dual Fans and patented Respiratory Sensor, LG’s wearable air purifier allows users to take in clean, filtered air while the Respiratory Sensor detects the cycle and volume of the wearer’s breath and adjusts the dual three-speed fans accordingly. The fans automatically speed up to assist air intake and slow down to reduce resistance when exhaling to make breathing effortless.

Ergonomically designed based on extensive facial shape analysis, LG PuriCare Wearable fits snugly on the user’s face to minimize air leakage around the nose and chin. The design also makes it possible to wear the unit comfortably for hours on end. The efficient and lightweight 820mAh battery offers up to eight hours of operation in low mode and two hours on high.

What’s more, LG’s innovative personal air solution comes with a case that helps maintain hygiene between uses. Equipped with UV-LED lights that kills harmful germs, the one-of-a-kind case can even charge the mask and sends a notification to the LG ThinQ mobile app (Android/iOS) when the filters need to be replaced for peak performance. And because every component of LG PuriCare Wearable – from the filters to the ear straps – is replaceable and recyclable, it’s an environmentally responsible solution as well.

Read more: Huami’s Amazfit Aeri Mask Self-Disinfects and Unlocks Your Phone With Face ID

“The PuriCare Wearable Air Purifier is an exciting addition to our growing lineup of products designed to deliver meaningful health and hygiene benefits,” said Dan Song, president of LG Electronics Home Appliance & Air Solution Company. “At a time when consumers are seeking ways to make life safer and more convenient, it’s important that we’re able to offer solutions that add measureable value.”

For IFA 2020, LG will present a virtual exhibition throughout the month of September featuring its latest innovations including LG PuriCare Wearable Air Purifier.

‍

FallCall Solutions, the creator of the FallCall Lite app for Apple Watch and iPhone, has teamed up with Trelawear Inc. to bring the first Bluetooth jewelry inspired Personal Emergency Response System (PERS) wearable pendant to be featured on the FallCall Lite app platform fully integrated into the Apple ecosystem.

Read more: FallCall Launches Personal Emergency Response System App for Apple Watch and iPhone

“Our vision when we first built FallCall was to change the narrative around PERS devices," states Dr. Shea Gregg, Founder and President of FallCall Solutions. "We have serviced thousands of Help Calls for our app users using the mobile and wearable devices they already own. In-line with our desire to provide safety and style for active lifestyles, we partnered with Trelawear, a leader in the design and distribution of attractive discreet PERS devices, to offer a beautiful 100% brass pendant collection that provides a true breakthrough solution for our current and future clients.”

FallCall Lite is a comprehensive Personal Emergency Assistant that is available from the Apple App Store for Free. Standard features include voice activation with Siri®, automatic "Elder Watch Battery Charge" updates for Caregivers, plus "Help Calls" to up to five Care Group members, with location and heart rate information, says a press release.

Trelawear devices remotely pair with the FallCall Lite app and follow the same simple electronic process for signing up and maintaining FallCall’s 24/7, U.S-based personal emergency monitoring service. Mytrex, Inc. with its 30+ years of emergency medical monitoring services will be the service provider for Trelawear Inc. devices.

The monthly subscription for the central monitor is $19.99. It adds access to trained and certified Emergency Medical Dispatchers (EMDs) 24 hours a day. Additionally, the monitoring service will send situational updates to Care Group members as an emergency event is unfolding.

Read more: Wearable Inertial Sensor-Based Devices Can Accurately Assess Elderly Fall Risk: Study

“Safety has never been as important as it is today, and FallCall Lite was a natural fit for Trelawear,” said Mara Perlmutter, Founder and CEO. “Trelawear caters to a younger demographic and provides a solution for adult children purchasing for their loved ones who own smartphones and are comfortable using Bluetooth with mobile apps. We were looking for the right partner who could provide a compatible Bluetooth app platform and who similarly believed in the importance of de-stigmatizing the wearing of a PERS device, appreciating that women of all ages want to look and feel beautiful while also feeling safe.”