Eggheads within the US are stated to have created a better, quicker, and just-as-reliable however a lot cooler approach to measure mind exercise than the cumbersome, wire-ridden caps used at present: Printable, non permanent “e-tattoos.”
Mind exercise is measured with electroencephalograms (EEGs), frequent checks used to assist diagnose situations akin to epilepsy, sleep problems, and mind accidents. Whereas noninvasive, these checks might be cumbersome for sufferers, as organising an EEG cap usually requires important time to make sure correct match. Even then they solely work reliably for a few hours earlier than conductive gel should to be reapplied.
In a paper printed this week, a bunch of scientists from the College of Texas at Austin and College of California, Los Angeles claimed their printed EEG approach may remove a lot of these points.
“The holy grail for EEG is a sensor that sufferers can put on for lengthy durations of time, outdoors the medical setting and with out the necessity for fixed upkeep,” UT Austin professor Nanshu Lu, one of many challenge’s researchers, stated. “What we have developed opens the door for extra cell EEG sensing.”
Lu and the workforce’s e-tattoo system locations electrodes and interconnects manufactured from biocompatible ink straight onto the pores and skin. The ink mesh is made by a five-axis robotic, based mostly on a 3D scan of a affected person’s head, utilizing algorithm developed for the aim.
How printable EEG e-tattoos are positioned – Click on to enlarge.
Supply: Scalco de Vasconcelos et al
“In our examine, 3D head scanning and printing of ten electrodes might be accomplished inside about 15 min,” the researchers famous of their paper. The entire course of can take as little as quarter-hour. There’s one caveat: Sufferers should stay extraordinarily nonetheless.
“Head actions require further calibration to replace the coordinates of the landmarks, including an additional 5 min per motion,” the workforce stated, including that they hope so as to add visible monitoring programs on the printer in order that it might probably extra simply account for affected person twitches.
As soon as dry, the stretchable, conductive ink (which might even be printed over some quick haircuts) is simply half the thickness of a human hair, and is ready to file mind exercise for greater than 24 hours with “ample and steady conductivity.”
As soon as the scan is completed, the e-tattoos might be eliminated simply with cleaning soap and water or an alcohol wipe.
Bonus: They appear kinda rad, too
In response to the analysis workforce, the e-tattoos have a sign high quality that is simply pretty much as good as moist gel electrodes – the gold commonplace for EEGs – whereas additionally providing improved consolation and longer steady usability.
Youtube Video
All that and a few sick-looking scalp tattoos – as you may see within the supplied video above – what’s to not love?
For starters, this method received’t work nicely – or maybe in any respect – on longer-haired people. Lu instructed the College of Texas that fixing that’s subsequent on the workforce’s to-do checklist, and that robotic fingers or combs could possibly be integrated into the printer to separate hair in goal areas.
And whereas the printed e-tattoos could keep steady conductivity for longer time than moist gel electrodes, there’s nonetheless a friction challenge: They are not but a superb match for sleep monitoring as a result of they have a tendency to rub off whereas a sleeper tosses and turns.
Nonetheless, “e-tattoos for EEG [solve] many long-standing challenges,” the workforce concluded. “It marks a brand new chapter in neurotechnology, emphasizing customization and accuracy, enhancing affected person well-being, and minimizing healthcare labor.”
Whether or not and when the know-how might be commercialized is not clear – we have requested, however have not heard acquired a reply on the time of publication. ®
