Google’s New Device Will Help Your Doctor Track Your Health
Google’s New Device Will Help Your Doctor Track Your Health
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Google co-founder Sergey Brin looks on during a news conference at Google headquarters on September 25, 2012 in Mountain View, California.Justin Sullivan Getty Images
Google’s love affair with with smart wearables continues with its latest one aimed specifically at medical patients.
On Tuesday, Google unveiled to Bloomberg a new health tracking band developed by Google X — the research arm headed by company co-founder Sergey Brin. The band can be used in clinical trials and drug tests, and will provide physicians with minute-by-minute data on patients. It can measure pulse, heart rhythm, skin temperature, light exposure and noise levels.
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Google and many other companies have released dozens of consumer-grade fitness tracking bands in the past few years, but people have generally not worn these reliably enough for medical tracking. Conrad’s team hopes that an extra-accurate band can help provide better data for researchers and physicians.
This isn’t Google X’s first foray into medical devices — the division is working on a smart contact lens that could help diabetic patients monitor glucose levels, and last year it acquired Lift Labs, a startup developing a motored spoon for people suffering from tremors.
