A team of researchers from the University of Oxford, UCL, and Xi’an Jiaotong University developed a soft, self-powered wearable sensor that uses AI to continuously monitor torque on the knee joint in real time, a critical metric for preventing and managing injury.
The team designed a flexible, soft, and lightweight sensor powered by piezoelectric materials, specifically, boron nitride nanotubes embedded in a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate. The wearable generates its own electricity through mechanical stress, using the wearer's knee movements as a power source.
The sensor invaluable medical data. Such data provides a clearer view of patient recovery and a better ability to spot deviations from the norm. It means seeing a problem coming before it becomes symptomatic, and this flips the healthcare model from reactive to proactive, from "let's treat the injury" to let's avoid the injury altogether.
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