Microsoft is designing a “smart bra” that will monitor women’s health by tracking their heart rate, her emotional state, whether or not she is over-eating and more.
Sensors in the bra detect when the wearer is bored, stressed or discouraged and send a warning signal to the woman’s smartphone that she should caution from making bad food choices.
In a paper entitled, “Food and Mood: Just-in-Time Support for Emotional Eating” was the collaborative effort of 5 researchers from Microsoft.
The paper indicates: “First, we needed a form factor that would be comfortable when worn for long durations. The bra form factor was ideal because it allowed us to collect (electrocardiogram data) near the heart.”
Study participants wore the bra for 4 days. Their vitals were monitored with an electrocardiogram (EKG) sensor under the arm; as well as electrodermal activity to measure perspiration.
Although the sensors needed to be charged every 4 hours, they successfully monitored the wearer’s emotional state.
An anonymous spokesperson for Microsoft was quoted as saying: “The bra sensing system is just one instance of a class of work from a group of Microsoft researchers that is focused on the broader topic of affective computing, or designing devices and services that are sensitive to people’s moods and react accordingly. While we will continue our research in affective computing, Microsoft has no plans to develop a bra with sensors.”
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Read the full article at: occupycorporatism.com
