Here’s all you should know about the Smart Face Mask “Facebit” Monitors Heartbeat and Health. More like a ‘Fitbit for the face’, smart mask is simply a normal face mask with a smart monitoring device embedded inside it.
Developed by engineers at Northwest University, it is a rather unique smart sensor platform for health enthusiasts. With only a quarter-sized sensor with a tiny magnet, can be attached to any plain N-95, cloth, or surgical face mask. This particular setup can keep track of the user’s heartbeat through his face.
Apart from the heart rate, it can also sense real-time respiration rate and mask wear time. This data is wirelessly transferred to a smartphone app that contains a dashboard for real-time health monitoring. This app is capable of sending alerts or warnings in case of any unexpected value for heart rate count. Also, based on the data, it can make predictions regarding fatigue, emotional state, and physical health status.
Perhaps the most astonishing fact about this FaceBit is that it is designed to utilize energy from all available resources – the force of the user’s breathing power, motion and heat from the user’s breath and also from the sun. Not forgetting the tiny battery that powers it.
A really simple to use and wear a mask, and not at all expensive option, the FaceBit is definitely a very convenient option. Before its design was finalized, Hester, the team leader at the university leading the project, held proper research and investigation in this regard. He interviewed several clinicians and also conducted a “fit test” among health care workers. This was done to check the quality of the masks and their seals whether they are strong enough to withhold viral infections.
According to this experiment, the conclusion was that the quality of the mask was very important and that it should remain fitted to the mouth for the utmost effectiveness. FaceBit is useful in this regard also that it will warn the user if the mask becomes loose.
FaceBit is capable of performing several other functions. It can gather physiological signals such as heart and respiratory rates and help the user to understand their bodies better in order to make sound health-related decisions.
Right now, Smart Face Mask “Facebit” has a tiny battery that lasts 11 days between charges. As mentioned earlier, it may get a little bit of charge from the user’s activities. Hester and his team are making all possible efforts to make it completely battery-free. Hence there will be no need for power even. Moreover, further clinical testing and evaluation of the device are being carried out in real-time scenarios to prove its efficiency.
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