EM-Sense Lets A Smartwatch Know What You Are Touching

Smartwatches do a lot for us today from letting us read texts and emails without fishing a phone out of our pocket to reminding us to take medications. A new software defined radio solution called EM-Sense has the potential to make smartwatches considerably smarter and greatly expand the Internet of Things.

EM-Sense is able to tell the smartwatch or wearable what the user is touching by measuring the electro-magnetic signals that are conducted through the body. Those signals are interpreted in real-time and allow EM-Sense to guide the wearer in projects or in fitness and health tracking among other things.

Imagine a watch that knows when you are touching a toothbrush and can time your kids to be sure they brush long enough or knows when you pick up the weights again and starts a timer to count reps. EM-Sense was developed by scientists at Disney Research and Carnegie Mellon University.

During testing the EM-Sense tech has proven to be able to discriminate between very similar items. For instance, it can tell the difference between the user holding a drill or a Dremel tool. The tech can also identify structural features like doors and other common devices. This might be a new level for indoor navigation eventually.

SOURCE: Gizmag