UMass Patch Would Spot Stressed-out Soldiers

Fitness bands and other wearable health monitors are all the rage among runners and other athletes who want to keep track of their workouts and measure vital statistics such as heart rate and calories burned. Now military personnel may soon have access to the same technology, in a patch that would be about the size and shape of a Band-Aid, and as flexible.

Based on research from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the sensor would gauge stress and fatigue among armed services personnel.

“Any time you’ve got someone making a command decision, you want to make sure they’re in the right frame of mind, that they’re alert, that they’re well rested,” says James Watkins, a polymer scientist who is leading the UMass effort.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

Image credit: Matthew Cavanaugh for The Boston Globe