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New subdermal watch/sleep tracker idea
I'm taking a look at the feasibility of implanting a Misfit Shine watch/fitness thingy/sleep tracker. It connects via Bluetooth LE to an app on iOS or Android, and I'm going to swap out the standard CR2032 battery with a rechargeable one and add a tiny induction coil. Assuming all that works, I'll contact Steve Haworth and see if he'd consider coating the assembly in silicone and shoving it under my skin. Links for parts below, and a couple quick pics of the circuit board I just pulled out of my Shine.
I'm mostly looking forward to subdermal LEDs on demand. Also, this thing gets 6-8 months on a single battery, so I'm hoping the rechargeable one is similar and it will be a very low-maintainance, yet useful implant.
Battery: http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Li-Ion-Rechargeable-Button-LR2032/dp/B0058E94O6
Induction: http://www.adafruit.com/products/1407
I'm mostly looking forward to subdermal LEDs on demand. Also, this thing gets 6-8 months on a single battery, so I'm hoping the rechargeable one is similar and it will be a very low-maintainance, yet useful implant.
Battery: http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Li-Ion-Rechargeable-Button-LR2032/dp/B0058E94O6
Induction: http://www.adafruit.com/products/1407
Comments
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What is the benefit of making it subdermal, other than pretty LEDs?
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No external unit to get in the way of sleeping, swimming, or any other activities.
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How does it work as a watch? Different colours for the minute and hour hand? Can you change the time via the app to adjust for daylight savings or moving?
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Proxy
@IDPS it is a watch in the sense that you place it on your wrist. Not the device for keeping time. What this one is specifically for is it to measure daily activities and sleep cycles/tracking.This basically would get coated then implanted I assume in the top of the forearm area or another place that is pretty mobile when one sleeps and goes about their day. -
Really interested on this, if haworh coat it I will get one!
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It is in fact also a watch, configrable from within the app and syncs over the BLE connection. Tap it twice, it shows your activity progress (basic step counter) and the time via a pattern of the LEDs, all are white and fairly bright. it tracks sleep fairly accurately and automatically, and displays sleep stages as a graph within the app adfter syncing.
Why subdermal? Place it in an area other than the wrist without losing any functionality (it can even be worn as a necklace and it still tracks things properly), freeing up that wrist area for more interesting gadgets as they become available, since this one is pretty basic yet still useful. Performs the most basic fitness tracking/time-telling functions without lots of bells and whistles that might complicate implantation, for example by increasing size. Unlikely to rapidly obsolesce like some other ideas, like an implanted cellphone that would only be useful for a couple years at most until networks change as they constantly do.
Parts are on the way, will have an update in a couple weeks but will try to keep on top of questions here during that time.
Also, since the order was for two batteries, I also ordered a second induction kit and I already have two of these little watches, so I'm going to rig up two similar prototypes and put one through a shitstorm of destructive testing before one of them goes into my arm. I'm srsly looking forward to that part. >:)
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Does Shine use the accelerometer to detect taps or capacitive sensing?
The promotional video on their website shows that synching is initiated by touching the Shine to the smartphone. Can you pair the device without that close proximity? What if you lose battery power and need to start from scratch?
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It uses an accelerometer, no other mechanical means of interaction. The "touch to pair" is a gimmick, pairing will actually occur anywhere within a few feet, closer just makes it faster to get a good signal. Initial setup is done within the app, and it stores your settings along with your data readings. So, if the device loses power and has to be reset after charging, the next time you sync it automatically pushes out your settings without any manual configuration (although you do lose whatever sensor data was on the device when power was lost).
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Maaaan! I had the same idea with the misfit. Now nobody will believe me. :)
I've been looking into charging options, hoping I could use a few kinetic watch winders for power, but it looks like it might not be enough to power it. The other snag I was thinking about was the software/app potentially becoming unsupported someday. But hey, you can always upgrade when the time comes. And yeah, Steve can seal that up, no problem.
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Turns out, the watch didn't like those batteries. Methinks the watch has some strict voltage requirements. Also, I forgot that it has a magnet in the back end, so now I'm thinking maybe it would be better to just use a weak subdermal magnet (or just a ferromagnetic plate) to hold the device on externally, rather than shove it all under the skin.
Displaying all 10 comments