Scientist From India's Top Tech Institute Develops Wearable, More Affordable Medical Sensors

According to the scientist, his device has demonstrated effective output in applications like speech recognition, health monitoring, and body motion detection. The biggest advantage of this sensor is its affordability.

An Indian scientist from the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay has developed wearable sensors that can be used to diagnose heart rate variability (HRV) in humans. The scientist, Dr. Dipti Gupta, developed the low-cost and flexible sensor that can be used for small- and large-scale motion monitoring with potential applications in robotics, prosthetics, minimal invasive surgery, and the identification of tumours and cancerous cells.

"Dr. Dipti Gupta has fabricated these tactile (pressure and strain) sensors using low-cost polyurethane foam and nanomaterial-based inks that can coat several substrates with support from the Advanced Manufacturing Technologies programme of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India," the country's Ministry of Science and Technology said in a statement on Thursday.

To enhance the sensitivity of the sensors, reduced graphene oxide (rGO) has been used as a sensing material, however, the process was challenging due to the intrinsic hydrophobic behaviour of graphene oxide inks and agglomeration of graphene oxide flakes after reduction, Dr Gupta explained. 

Meanwhile, he's applied for three national patents for the sensors and plans to develop more advanced medical tech in the future.