we learned about processing real-time data can be
very useful in providing services to the healthcare
sector, from clinical research to wellness and sports
performance.”
In addition to the technology found on the race
tracks and McLaren Applied Technologies’ labs,
other advanced data analytics from disparate
industries is helping healthcare professionals better
monitor signals on an individual patient level, creating
new care pathways and mapping health trends
across populations.
DOCTOR ON YOUR WRIST
In this quest for real-time monitoring, a new
generation of wearable devices is burrowing into
health like never before. Smartwatches, probably
one of the most popular wearables today, don’t just
count steps, monitor heart rate, and record burned
calories. They are also monitoring biomarkers from
heart rate, glucose, and oxygen levels to toxins and
other physiological signs in order to detect and
predict serious medical episodes.
Empatica, for example, a startup with offices in
Milan and Boston, developed Embrace, the first
smartwatch to be approved by the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) for neurology, to monitor
one of the most dangerous kinds of seizures,
known as grand mal or generalized tonic-clonic
seizures. Through a machine-learning process, it
gathers biomarker data and sends an alert to summon
caregiver help during a seizure.
Empatica’s journey began long before it ventured
into medical features. Its core technology
traces back to 2007, when a team at MIT Media
Lab developed a wearable that measured changes
on the surface of the skin that could communicate
main components of stress, such as electrodermal
activity and temperature.
Professor Rosalind Picard led the research
at MIT Media Lab, and today she also works as
Empatica’s chief scientist. The team at MIT Media
Lab, according to Picard, “worked for years building
wearable stress and emotion sensors, and then
accidentally discovered we could pick up changes
in the skin elicited by brain activity related to the
most dangerous kinds of seizures.”
Today, Embrace works by measuring three kinds
of data. First, it detects the electrodermal activity
that represents electrical changes on the surface
of the skin. For most people, increased neural
activity and stress elevate the sweat level on skin.
Even if the sweat is too little to be seen or felt on
the surface, pores below fill and increase electrical
conductance enough to be detected by Embrace’s
sensors. Embedded accelerometers and gyrometers
then measure movement to tell the device
if the person is likely to have fallen or is making
sudden movements. Third, a thermometer picks up
longer-term changes in skin temperature.
When the Embrace wristband determines that
a seizure is underway, it relays this message to the
user’s paired phone and sends an alert to all the individuals
listed as caregivers in the Empatica Alert app.
The device is already saving lives. According to
Empatica, a 25 year-old patient suffered from an
epileptic seizure that left her unresponsive and
not breathing. The Embrace watch on her wrist
detected the seizure and immediately sent out an
alert to her mother, who called the paramedics.
“I was in the hospital for a total of four days, with
three of those days in ICU,” the patient explained
in a blog post. “I believe the Embrace saved my
life. It helps give peace of mind to me, as well as
my friends and family.”
McLaren Applied Technologies, too, has upped
its wearables game in a collaboration with Huami,
best known for its branded fitness bands. The
company will work with the Chinese biometric
device company to develop co-branded intelligent,
custom-designed performance optimization
solutions and wearable technologies to keep people
healthier—without sacrificing personal style.
And while Bradley is excited to be working with
Huami, he’s clear that McLaren Applied Technologies’
platform is not restricted to wearable data. “We
collect a huge amount of structured data, such as
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