Your Dog May Get Its Own Fitbit Thanks to This New Fur-Friendly Sensor
Imperial College London researchers have invented a new health tracking sensor for pets that monitor vital signs through fur.
Fitness trackers, like those made by Fitbit, have become extremely helpful, because they help us monitor our bodies in real-time and track the data in the long term as we work to improve our health. But our pets don’t get that same benefit. This isn’t because there isn’t a market there, but rather because of the technical challenge of getting the necessary sensors to work through a thick coat of fur. Your fitness tracker is able to check your heartrate because it’s up against your bare skin. This new sensor could make that unnecessary, so Fido can get his very own fitness tracker.
This sensor was developed by researchers from Imperial College London, and it does have potential for human use as well. Most fitness trackers contain two important sensors: an accelerometer that detects your movement, and a special optical sensor that checks your pulse by shining light into your skin and measuring the output. That second sensor can’t work if the light can’t easily reach your skin, which is why it doesn’t work on animals like dogs that have a lot of fur. The only way for it to work is if you shave a portion of your dog’s fur to get access to bare skin. The sensor developed at Imperial College London works differently in order to get through fur.
Instead of measuring light, this new sensor measures sound. It’s made up of a silicone-water composite material that is flexible and stretchy. This can fit snugly on a dog’s leg, which helps transmit sound. A sensitive microphone is embedded in the material and it picks up the sound of blood pumping, much like a doctor can do with a stethoscope. While a fitness tracker built on this sensor technology would be nice for monitoring your dog’s activity, it would also be useful for training. A bomb-sniffing dog, for example, should experience an increase in heart and breathing rates as they get excited about the reward they’ve been trained to expect when they find an explosive. This technology would also make it possible to monitor your own heart rate through layers of clothing, which could make fitness trackers more versatile.
