Novel approach uses human body to recharge smartwatches and fitness bands

While the prototype charging system doesn't produce enough power to continuously operate a sophisticated device such as an Apple Watch, it could support ultra-low-power fitness trackers like Fitbit Flex and Xiaomi Mi Bands.


Devdiscourse News Desk | California | Updated: 02-07-2021 16:11 IST | Created: 02-07-2021 12:07 IST
Novel approach uses human body to recharge smartwatches and fitness bands
Smartwatches and fitness trackers are increasingly being used to monitor the vital signs of health including heart rate, blood oxygen level, sleep quality etc., but this critical health information can't be tracked continuously as users have to frequently charge the on-device battery. Image Credit: Flickr
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Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst College of Information and Computer Sciences claim to have developed a prototype charging system that uses the human body to recharge smart wearable devices such as smartwatches and fitness bands.

Smartwatches and fitness trackers are increasingly being used to monitor the vital signs of health including heart rate, blood oxygen level, sleep quality etc., but this critical health information can't be tracked continuously as users have to frequently charge the on-device battery.

"Quality of sleep and its patterns contain a lot of important information about patients' health conditions. The main reason users discontinue the long-term use of wearable devices is because they have to frequently charge the on-device battery," noted Sunghoon Ivan Lee, assistant professor in the UMass Amherst.

The novel technology uses human tissue as a transfer medium for power. The prototype charging system was tested with 10 people in three scenarios during which the individuals' arm or hand made contact with the power transmitter. With skin as the transfer medium, approximately 0.5 - 1mW of direct current (DC) power was transferred to the wrist-worn device.

The researcher noted that the electricity conforms to safety regulations established by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and poses minimal health risks.

While the prototype charging system doesn't produce enough power to continuously operate a sophisticated device such as an Apple Watch, it could support ultra-low-power fitness trackers like Fitbit Flex and Xiaomi Mi Bands.

Now the research team is aiming to improve the power transfer rate in subsequent studies. The work is published in the Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies.

"We imagine in the future as we further optimize the power that's consumed by the wearable sensors, we could reduce and ultimately eliminate the charging time," said Jeremy Gummeson, UMass Amherst wearable computing engineer.

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