By: Alec Schabowsky
How Wearable Sensors are Reshaping Research and Health
It all started with a step, a hop, then a skip and a jump, and finally a beat. This, however, is not dance class; it’s the world of wearable technology!
Since their inception as step-trackers in the 1960s, wearable devices have expanded to track key biometrics such as heart rate and calories burned, as well as to record sleep and monitor stress levels. These advancements have been a game-changer for how everyone from a professional athlete to an everyday consumer tracks their health – and they have been making strides within research as well.
“It’s something that was completely impossible before we had wearable sensors,” says Lisa Cadmus-Bertram, associate professor in the UW-Madison Department of Kinesiology.
Cadmus-Bertram recently conducted a study exploring how Fitbits, a popular consumer grade wearable, could be used to help breast cancer survivors reach their physical activity goals — a behavior associated with improved physical, psychological, and social outcomes.
“Because we had the Fitbit linked to their electronic health record, [cancer survivors] would get a message every week with feedback about their physical activity,” stated Cadmus-Bertram. By incorporating physical activity data into electronic health records, the data becomes a part of the conversation between patients and their doctors. “If we can get the oncologists to say something about physical activity and keep that as a recurring part of the conversation, that helps to really motivate [cancer survivors].”
Cadmus-Bertram’s work with wearable sensors has advanced significantly since her initial experiments with them in 2011. She even reminisced about when she first started using wearable technology in her research: “When I would go give talks about it, I would have to explain what the Fitbit is.” Fast forward to today and wearables are nearly as omnipresent as the smartphone.
On the other side of campus, assistant professor Joseph Andrews of the Electrical & Mechanical Engineering Department leads the Laboratory for Printed Electronics and Sensors where he and his team are inventing novel wearable technologies.
“Our lab is focused on printed electronics. We look at application spaces where printed electronics can be of benefit in making the world healthier and more energy efficient.” Professor Andrews and his team’s printed electronics are developed for a wide degree of applications, including military, athletics, and even agriculture.
“That was completely impossible before we had wearable sensors… we never could have even envisioned that type of a system.”
– Lisa Cadmus Bertram
One application senses the amount of plant-available nitrate within soil, so that farmers can “have the nitrate where they need it, when they need it,” stated Andrews. Doing so could reduce the amount of nitrate, a fertilizer harmful in excess, while simultaneously improving crop yields.
Andrews shared that “the same type of technology that we use for nitrate sensors could also be used for monitoring different molecules or chemicals in sweat.” This could allow wearables to capture vital metrics that were once thought only measurable by invasive techniques.
Andrews also highlights a key feature of printed electronics: their flexibility. This has potential to improve the ergonomics of certain wearable devices, such as smart watches, which Andrews humorously described as “basically just a rigid computer that sits on your wrist.” He then expanded on this statement with his optimistic view for the future: “The next generation of wearable electronics will really address this issue of conformability, and printed electronics will play a crucial role in doing that.”