Have you ever thought how stressed your job is you? Scientists have developed a temporary forehead tattoo that can one day respond to you.
Scientists at the University of Texas at Austin created a tattoo made of facial mood ring, electronic ink, which measures and analyzes electrical signals from the brain and eyes wirelessly. In a small study of human volunteers, people were able to express e-tattoos when people were mentally taxed. Researchers stated that Vineet, relatively inexpensive technology can be adapted to track mental stress in pilots, surgeons and others.
Senior researcher Nansu Lu and his team were motivated to develop their e-tattoo by a famous puzzle; Electroncephalography (EEG) can firmly measure a person’s brain activity, but it is often not very practical to move out.
A specific EEG today may require someone to wear heavy hats attached to all types of wires, for example (not to mention sticky conductive gel). It is usually straight in a clinical setting, but using EEG in real-world environment is more challenging-especially when measuring mental stress during work. The team’s ulturethine, flexible and wireless e-tattoo looks to cross this challenge. It also combines the functions of an EEG and an electroculography (EOG), which measures electrical activity to monitor eye speed.
“Compared to existing methods such as headbands or gel-based caps, our approach is far more wearable, especially in dynamic or helmet-environment,” Lu told Gizmodo by Lu, an engineer specialized in soft electronics in UT Austin. Compared to normal EEG equipment (a new system can begin $ 20,000), E-tattoo is also inexpensive, it costs only $ 200 with chips and battery packs, and its disposable sensors are approximately $ 20 each.
In new studies, Published In the journal device on Thursday, Lu and his team tested their e-tattoo on six volunteers. These volunteers conducted memory tests which gradually increased in difficulty. As the tests became difficult and people performed worse, the tattoo made changes in their brain activity that could increase cognitive demand or fatigue, found that researchers found that researchers found. It is revealed that brain changes also match the changes made by self-reported changes in the stress levels of volunteers.
The team then collected a collected data from e-tattoo into a computer model, finding that the model could estimate various levels of mental charge. This suggests that these e-tattoos can be used not only to detect, but it can be estimated that a person is about to be seriously mentally tired.
“This technique can help in monitoring cognitive fatigue in pilots, drivers or surgeons, where laps can be dangerous. It can support individual learning, stress management, or even early warning systems in high -risk jobs,” Lu said.
However, there are still some important limitations for the team’s technology. Tattoos currently work only on hairless skin, for example, although the team is expecting them to combine them Wireless ink sensor It can be placed on the skull. Lu also noted that tattoo coverage beyond the forehead would be difficult to increase, while ensuring that it remains comfortable. And finally, to confirm the real-world data to confirm that technology can work as expected-a goal that researchers are already moving forward.
“Next, we aim to make our device relevant and even validated in real-world environment. We are working on integrating on-tattoo age computing and real-time response without compromising user privacy,” Lu said.
Perhaps the biggest challenge, however, consumer-wise, must be sure that people do not look too much while wearing one of these tattoos.
