Friday, July 21, 2006

Exmocare: Vital Signs and Emotion Monitoring

Exmovere LLC unveiled a Web-based Bluetooth-enabled biosensor wristwatch dubbed "Exmocare," which is designed to help provide elderly care assistance for individuals 65 years of age and older. (You know, for those "I've fallen and can't get up!" moments.)

Exmocare allows family and other caregivers to monitor an elderly individual's physiological and emotional health status in from afar, and get this--in real-time! The "wearable sensor system" offers automated reports on the elderly individuals' vital signs including pulse, heart rate and motion. It can also assess up to ten different emotions including relaxed, worried and agitated.

For caregivers who place higher priority on work and play than on face-to-face interaction with Grandma and Grandpa, Exmocare offers an "Exmonitor" program for Windows PCs. The program "allows you to effortlessly monitor your loved one from your Windows taskbar at home or at work," according to the company Web site.
Cool concept. I like the idea of being able to monitor your vital signs and emotions at all times.

Unfortunately, it looks like they need a Apple makeover on the aesthetics. It looks like a clock radio that you put on your wrist. Does it have a snooze button?

It is a good idea for monitoring the elderly, but it seems like this could be so much more (well assuming they make it into a more attractive watch).

I don't know how well the emotion sensoring works (and I am a little skeptical how well it does), but if it works well there are all sorts of cool applications you could do with it. First, you could track your own emotions throughout the day. You could see how much time you spend in various states of mind. How much time did you spend today in a relaxed state vs. a worried state vs. an agitated state? Now you will know.

Second, imagine if everyone in your work or all your friends had one of these on. What if you could monitor the emotional state of everyone you knew from the Windows taskbar? Ready to go ask your boss about a raise? Better check his emotional state before I head over to his office. Hmm, one of my friends has been worried all day long, wonder what is wrong. Ok, maybe this would go a little far and go into the TMI category. But lots of possible applications with this one.

via Gearlog

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.