Babies to don wearable tech in India

 01-Aug-16, Bangalore Mirror

India has one of the highest neonatal mortality rates and in the absence of adequate facilities in most rural hospitals, neonates may not receive timely care, which may lead to further health complications.

Image: Bangalore Mirror

To address this major problem, researchers from Robert Bosch Center for Cyber Physical Systems at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), and St John's Research Institute (SJRI), both based in Bengaluru, have developed a wearable sensor, which picks up temperature abnormalities in newborn babies and transmits it remotely to the phone of a health worker or raises audible alarms for the family member to be alerted immediately, or if no corrective action is taken.

The first-of-its-kind sensor device and the back-end analytics system are undergoing a feasibility study and clinical trial currently among a few dozen mother-baby pairs from urban hospital settings in Bengaluru. The system is being tested for data capture-validation and alert response to the mother/village health worker/hospital. In the next phase, this device is proposed to be tested in rural settings of the country.

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