Made-in-Singapore smart T-shirt allows runners to track ECG

#News(Startup) [ via IoTForIndiaGroup ]

[Editors Note : Also see KaHa Leads Strategic Multipartite IoT Innovation Lab – the COVE R2C IoT ]

It’s a test more commonly performed at the doctors.
But you can now track your electrocardiography (ECG), which detects cardiac abnormalities, through your mobile phone, by using a T-shirt that connects to an app.
Developed by local start-up KaHa and textile company Tex Line, with the help of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), the smart shirt can also track and record fitness data such as heart rate, calories burned and step counts.
Developers aim to market the product by mid next year, with prices expected to be about 20 to 30 per cent more expensive than a regular sports apparel outfit.

An advanced prototype of the smart wearable was trialed for the first time during the annual one-north Run on Sunday (Dec 2), with about 100 of the 2,500 runners at the event donning it.

“We discovered that the current material in the market is not sustainable in high wash environment, so we have a unique formulation that enables to have more than 100 washing cycles,” said Mr Lok Boon Keng, programme manager at the emerging application division in A*STAR.
The carbon electrodes on the smart T-shirt that was on loan to Channel NewsAsia peeled off slightly after just one wash, however, indicating that further improvement may need to be done in this area.

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