FGadgets » Health Gadgets

Prosthesis – A Step Closer Towards New Cyborg Society

admin — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 01:41:12 +0000

Prosthetic limb is a novel innovation in itself, but if comes equipped with advanced technologies, it becomes more than handy for the user. The “Prosthesis” by designers Lukas Pressler and Nico Strobl is an identical limb that maneuvers effortlessly, via myoelectric sensoring, for the ease of the user. Integrating handy tools, such as a camera, flashlight, screwdriver, phone, bottle opener and an USB-stick for data exchange, the new artificial arm controls the tools with gestures. A step towards new cyborg-friendly society, the Prosthesis also includes a display at the forearm for fine-tuning without wasting any time.

Source: Thedesignblog.org

Color-Shifting Contact Lenses Alert Diabetics to Glucose Levels

admin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 22:32:48 +0000

Diabetics are saddled with the unenviable task of checking their blood sugar levels constantly. But a new non-invasive technology lets diabetics keep tabs on their glucose levels with contact lenses that change colors as their blood sugar rises and falls.

Nanoparticles — is there anything they can’t do? — embedded in the hydrogel lenses react with glucose molecules in naturally occurring tears. A chemical reaction then causes the lenses to shift their hues, alerting the wearer to falling or spiking blood sugar levels. The wearer can then make the appropriate adjustments to his or her blood sugar, all without having to carry around (and use) devices for drawing and analyzing blood.

U. of Western Ontario Professor Jin Zhang has just collected $216,000 from the Canada Foundation for Innovation as a result of the breakthrough process to develop other applications for multifunctional nanocomposites, which can be used in everything from biomedicine to food preservation to packaging. We think a head-up display for glucose levels is pretty good, but if nanocomposites can also make the packaging on that blood-sugar-leveling candy bar biodegrade more quickly, all the better.

Source: Gizmodo.com & Institute of Nanotechnology

LOOP – Concept Cellphone For The Visually Impaired by Andres Parada

admin — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 23:25:59 +0000

Developed for a competition organized by LG Electronics in collaboration with Autodesk, the “Loop” by designer Andres Parada is a mobile phone for the visually impaired that gives the glimpse, of course seems brighter, of the future of personal mobile communication. Designed to create person’s tactile senses instead of the visual, the futuristic cellphone removes the screen or the button pad and keeps the hands of the users free.

Featuring a compact size than a regular cellphone available in market, the Loop is designed to clip onto the clothing of the user, if he/she doesn’t wanna worn it around the neck by attaching it to a strap. The cellphone concept makes use of scroll dialing, which is much more intuitive for the blind than regular buttons. The earpiece of this cellphone can be attached to the phone either when it’s not in use or to terminate an ongoing call.

Source: Thedesignblog.org

Electrolux H20 Future Kitchen 2099 by Peter Vardai

admin — Sun, 23 May 2010 22:11:55 +0000

Built on the principle of metamorphosis, the “Kitchen 2099” or “H2O” by Hungarian designer Peter Vardai is a futuristic kitchen that loses its exclusive part in the household and turns into its center by fulfilling all its necessities. For the basic substance, the claytronic atom, allows the owner to shape his/her kitchen according to their wishes and changing moods, which means that one single acquisition enables the usage of various models. The claytronic atom contains small (nanometer) silicium spheres that transmits the information or the current to each other. The material of the kitchen receives a preprogrammed form which can later be changed by the owner.

Designed for Electrolux, the kitchen of the future wraps in a box, which can be easily commuted and takes its desired shape only after having been activated. You may use its facilities anywhere, at home, in the garden or in any open space, as it is able to provide itself with energy and does not need outer connections. The box contains the cooking and freezing equipment, which take the shape of the products they need to include. In addition, you may use external electrical objects that generate power from the heat transferring metal. This kitchen contains fuel cells and the necessary hydrogen comes from a water splitting machine, which makes the end product of the burning gas to be potable, clean water.

Moreover, dishwashing and cleaning up becomes vile as the substance itself swallows the leftovers and takes them to the garbage can. The kitchen stores all the information and recipes. It can become the central energy supplier, whereas the brain of the flat, a strong and fast computer serves all the other facilities. You need not to lug a big machine, a basic netbook is enough, and when you connect the home one (remote desktop connection), you can take advantage of its full capacity. A small part of the kitchen serves as a place where you can grow spices and herbs, helping the oxygen formation.

Source: Thedesignblog.org

Touch & Go – Navigator for Visually Impaired by Natalia Ponomareva

admin — Mon, 10 May 2010 16:09:52 +0000

Conceived by Russian designer Natalia Ponomareva, the “Touch & Go” is a navigation system for the visually impaired, which navigates them in the outside world and makes them autonomous even beyond the four walls of their homes. Combining a hand gadget with earpiece, the device can be worn around the hand like a fashionable accessory. Featuring a tactile display that shows the directions as a relief map, the wearable navigator uses 1:1000 scale and plum in the center depicts the position of the user. Indicating the direction wherein the user has to move with an arrow, the system also provides auditory support via the earphone, which is fitted with an ultrasonic transmitter-receiver. Since the device fastens to the back of the hand, users can carry it around quite conveniently.

Source: Thedesignblog.org

Sleep Well Wireless Blood Glucose Monitoring Device Eliminates Sleepless Night of Parents with Diabetic Child

admin — Sat, 01 May 2010 23:24:04 +0000

Sleep Well is a wireless blood glucose monitoring device concept, designed aiming to eliminate the sleepless nights of parents with the tension of getting their kids glucose level down to the extreme level. The system comprises a portable and lightweight monitor with an ability to take wireless signal that parents keep with them and a wearable bracelet monitor that remains fastened on the child’s hand to transmit the health condition to the monitor. This monitor allows the parents to check their kid’s health without even leaving her bed and can be set to trigger an alarm when the blood sugar level of the child crosses a particular height. Moreover, parents can easily review their child’s nightly activities during the middle of the night at their bedside convenient. If an emergency situation takes place, they can rush to their child’s room with the monitor to perform the aid that has to be taken based on the information displayed on the monitor.

Source: Tuvie.com

Sidewinder SCBA : A Next Generation Equipment For Convenient Functioning Of Firefighters

admin — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:41:31 +0000

The Sidewinder concept is a Self Contained Breathing Apparatus or SCBA that has been specially designed for firefighters with the ability of a wider field of vision and movement. This innovative mask features a regulator that can retract the air tube over the shoulder, reducing snag points. Additionally, this concept comprises voice amplifier, flashlight and heads up display for providing more information, ensuring better functioning of the firefighters. The design features a GPS system to alert firefighters about an injured coworker and show directions to exit or a particular area. Also, the harness has been changed to enable firefighters to glide through tiny openings without the need of removing their harness.

Source: Tuvie.com

Designer – Jordan Swartzentruber

Personal Survival Oxygen Unit – O3

admin — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 21:10:06 +0000

O3, a personal survival oxygen unit, is designed to grow awareness of the potential natural disaster and the current environmental situation among mass people. The concept aims to provide sustainable oxygen support to mankind if a situation comes when artificial production and distribution of oxygen becomes a must to live in the massively polluted environment.

Being a personal oxygen production unit, this gadget includes compressed oxygen refill units which is exchangeable through local oxygen supplier and contains an individual easy-to-carry mouthpiece. The refill unit incorporates a flexible and washable membrane that can be adjusted according to the user’s lips and controlling the oxygen flow is done by twisting the refill unit. Even though the product is very much innovative and functional, no one would like to have this due to the extreme environmental situation it has been designed for.

Source: Trendbird.co.kr

Augmented Contact Lens by Babak Amir Parviz

admin — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:34:19 +0000

Shifting the augmented reality application from mobile phones or other interactive devices to the human body, Professor Babak Amir Parviz and his students from the University of Washington has developed an augmented contact lens that embeds AR technology straight into your eye. Employing sensors and wireless technology to allow bionic eyesight, the next-gen contact lens is build with very small circuits and LEDs, allowing the user to monitor his/her heart. Using an external device for controls and processing, the Augmented Contact Lenses would bring about a revolution in both the medical science as well as the entertainment industry. Just go through the quote to understand the formation and working of the revolutionary contact lens after the jump.

In this lens concept, an antenna at the periphery collects incoming RF energy from a separate portable transmitter. Power-conversion circuitry provides DC power to other parts of the system and sends instructions to the display control circuit. The display, at the center, might consist of LEDs, which would turn on and off, or LCD-like elements, whose transparency would be modulated by the control circuit. An energy-storage module, perhaps a large capacitor, is connected to a solar cell, which could provide a boost to the lens. A biosensor samples the surface of the cornea, performs an analysis, and provides data to the telecommunication module to transmit to an external computer.

Source: Thedesignblog.org

Cognitive Balloon – An Essential Safety Wristband for Beach Swimmers

admin — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:37:21 +0000

The cognitive balloon concept has been designed to ensure maximum safety for the swimmers that alerts the lifeguards about a swimmer’s danger. This concept aims to eliminate the difficulties of seashore lifeguards to spot a person in danger and their exact location, which is one of the key reasons of beach fatalities. Also, it eliminates the hassle of swimmers to wear inconvenient and uglysafety gears by featuring a fashionable discrete wristband that releases a balloon with a simple button press. The balloon gets filled by compressed helium gas and rises quickly, so that a swimmer in danger can easily be identified even at a crowded beach by the lifeguards.

Source: Tuvie.com