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Lahman: Wearable tech will change health care

Sean Lahman
@seanlahman
  • Will Rochester%27s largest employers drive the innovations behind new category of wearable devices%3F
  • Xerox Corp. is developing flexible electronics that can bend or stretch into any shape for possible use in the health care industry.
Tom Hasselberg, of Spencerport works in an area at Vuzix.

Late last month, Apple received a new patentfor its smartwatch design. Dubbed "iTime" in the public documents, the wrist-worn electronic device would provide all of the functionality of a smartphone. The iTime, and other products like it, might be a less intrusive presence in our every day lives.

Smartwatches are one of a new class of devices known as wearable electronics. It's really only been in the last year have we've started to see them hit the consumer market.

Most wearble devices on the market today are fitness trackers, like those made by Fitbit. A digital wristband counts how many steps the user takes during the course of a day, while tracking daily activity with an accompanying app. The wristband reports progress with a simple LED display, or through vibrations.

Wearable electronics reflect a convergence among three major technological advances of this generation: the miniaturization of hardware and ability to put remarkable amounts of processing power in very small devices; big data's ability to collect and analyze massive amounts of information; and wireless networks allowing us to connect to the cloud, store and share data and interact with other applications.

Local companies use these advances to create their own wearables. Vuzix, a Henrietta-based corporation, has been making smartglasses since the late 1990s. Six15 Technologies produces heads-up displays for the defense industry, allowing data and instructions to appear directly on eyewear. Rochester Optical is working to provide prescription lenses and smartframes for Google Glass, a wearable technology which hit the market in May, 2014.

Xerox Corp. has been pioneering the development of flexible electronics, devices that can bend or stretch into any shape. These advances are creating opportunities for further innovation, as I learned last fall when I interviewed Mandakini Kanungo, a research scientist at the Xerox Research Center in Webster.

"Imagine smart bandages that can monitor your wound and tell you when it's going to heal," Kanungo said. "You could even surgically implant a sensor directly inside the human brain."

This is where the biggest impact will be made. Google Glasses and Fitbit wristbands are cool, but they're novelties. Wearables can profoundly change the field of healthcare, and have a direct impact on people's everyday lives.

Mandakini Kanungo isa research scientist at the Xerox Research Center in Webster.

Consider a child with asthma, too young to effectively monitor their own symptoms, or manage their own medication.

One Rochester startup is developing a wearable technology that can monitor a child's breathing throughout the day and share that data with both the physician and the parents. Healthcare Originals licensed the technology, which was developed at the University of Rochester.

The same type of wearable could be used to help people manage diabetes, assist caretakers in monitoring Alzheimer's patients, or even to replace the traditional baby monitor — a one-way-radio — with a smart monitor that attaches gently around the baby's ankle.

And with Rochester's largest employers being in the health care industry, you'd expect to see more wearable products developed locally in the future.

Sean Lahman's column appears in print on Sundays. Follow him on Twitter @SeanLahman, or reach him at (585) 258-2369.