Continuous Body Monitoring - Ambient Intelligence for Scientific Discovery - page 218

CERMUSAisanappliedresearchandtechnology center located on the cam-
pus of Saint Francis University in Loretto, PA. They are working with Body-
media in the field of monitoring technologies for patients in remote areas suffering
from chronic diabetes and obesity. As part of this project, clinical researchers
will use the SenseWear system together with wirelessly enabled glucose meters
and weight scales to remotely monitor vital patient information such as blood-
glucose levels, exercise habits, sleep quality, weight change, nutritional intake
and overall compliance with programs administered by their caregiver.

6.3 Industry and the Work Place

Worker health, satisfaction, and productivity greatly effect manufacturing facil-
ities fiscal gains. Better understanding worker stress, workload, and bottlenecks
will provide the potential to improve training, working conditions, and work
flow, increasing eciency, safety, and yield.
PPG Industries, conducted a study to investigate whether differences in
automation effected worker fatigue and effectiveness. Dr. Colombi, Corporate
Medical Director for Environment, Health and Safety at PPG Industries, used
BodyMedia armbands to measure workers' energy expenditure over shifts in two
different facilities. He found “that the SenseWear armband accurately measured
the levels of activity and amount of energy expended by the 40 plant workers who
participated in the study” and further concluded “A wearable energy dosimeter
is a viable alternative to oxygen consumption and heart frequency to evaluate
workload assessment [4].”
ARUP, an architecture engineering and design firm, whose well known build-
ings include the Sydney Opera House, investigates the environmental conditions
of its buildings for comfort. The company uses physiological data collected from
BodyMedia armbands to better understand design performance in free-living
situations [24].
NASA with the National Bio-Computation Center is investigating the po-
tential for using SenseWear technology to monitor astronaut's health in space
and during training.

6.4 Human Computer Interaction

Researchers from the Human Computer Interaction Department, Carnegie Mel-
lon University used the armband to study comfort perceptions of wearable tech-
nology. Participants were given an armband or a hydration device and told the
device served social, medical, or regulatory functions. Researchers noted that
“significant differences in desirability and comfort ratings were found between
functional conditions, indicating that functionality is a factor of comfort [1].”

6.5 Human Interaction

Not one person can be expert in all that is necessary, for instance, to bring a
product to market; individuals are trained mostly in their field of expertise and