The combination of nanotechnology and artificial intelligence powers wearable technology like a second skin
(Nanowerk News) Researchers from the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Information Technology combine nanotechnology and artificial intelligence to bring machines one step closer to communicating with the human body.
Using special algorithms, personalized Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology can now decipher some of the body’s signals, understand them and make decisions about what to do next.
Published recently in Natural Nanotechnology (“Hierarchically resistive skin as a custom, multimetric, throat-wearable biosensor”), research can change the way we deliver remote healthcare and become the future of personal alarms and communication devices.
Worn around the neck, lead researcher Professor Wenlong Cheng said the ultra-thin wearable patch has three layers, measuring speech, neck movement and touch. It also measures breathing and heart rate.
“Emerging soft electronics have the potential to serve as wearable patches like a second skin for monitoring human health vitals, designing perceptual robots and bridging the interaction between natural and artificial intelligence,” said Professor Cheng.
Associate Professor Zongyuan Ge, from the School of Information Technology, is part of a Monash team that has developed a frequency/amplitude-based neural network called Deep Hybrid-Spectro, which can automatically monitor multiple biometrics from a single signal.
“Since everyone has different sounds and actions, the next step is to program and personalize the sensor using more sophisticated algorithms so that it can be tailored to the individual,” added Associate Professor Ge.
The sensor is made of a layered cracked platinum film, vertically aligned gold nanowires, and a permeated gold nanowire film.
The neck skin is the most sensitive skin in the body and connects up to five physiological activities associated with the human throat: speech, heartbeat, breathing, touch and neck movement.
This work was primarily carried out at the Monash Nanobionics lab and partly at the Melbourne Center for Nanofabrication (MCN) at the Victorian Node of the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF) and the Monash Center for Electron Microscopy.
