How Samsung’s Brain Tech May Prevent Concussions #WearableWednesday
Samsung Electronics Australia is working on new tech called brainBand that will explore head impacts in sports according to TechTimes. In the same way sports is using wearable tech to monitor biometrics for training and games, the new band will allow a similar method for tracking head impacts in real time. Here’s how it works:
The brainBand is specially designed band for the head, which includes sensors at its back that measures the impact force. The obtained data can be transmitted through an app to referees, coaches and medics in real-time, via Samsung devices. A number of LED lights are also fixed in the brainBand, which shows the level of impact of a specific hit. The LED lights can glow yellow, orange or red, with red pointing at high alert. Based on the light signals, officials can immediately assess if a sportsperson is required to be taken off the field.
Check out the project’s interesting video which uses the impact of a car crash as a means of understanding the impact to a player’s head in rugby. It’s scary stuff.
The band is a collaboration between Braden Wilson, an industrial designer, and Dr. Alan Pearce, a neuroscientist. They came together thanks to Samsung’s Launching People program which combines experts with different talents along with Samsung’s tech. Australian rugby player, Israel Folau, first to try the invention, is now a brand ambassador.
Folau hopes that the brainBand wearable technology is available to every player in Australia. The footballer also believes that the brainBand technology can make contact sports safer for current and future players.
It’s nice to see this work being done and I was thinking how you could DIY a prototype using a FLORA microcontroller, its matching FLORA accelerometer/compass sensor and some NeoPixels. Of course I would not encourage you to start a WWE smackdown in your house, but you could see how force affects your body and program the NeoPixels to glow different colors based on the movement. Start off with our learning guide on the FLORA Accelerator/Compass module to see how you can get data from the movement of your wearable. You might end up inventing a new game that other people may enjoy, so be sure to share your experiment on our forum.
Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!
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Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!