People with epilepsy can suffer a seizure at any time and often without warning. These events are bad enough for adults to experience, but kids are particularly vulnerable to injury and other complications of seizures. Moreover, seizures can happen at night with parents not even realizing their kids need assistance.
A group of graduating seniors from Rice University has developed a new device that spots signs of a seizure and calls an assigned caretaker for help. The cleverly named student group Team Seize and Assist developed its SMART (Seizure Monitoring and Response Transducer) belt around two silver/silver chloride electrodes that detect changes in skin conductance and a sensor that monitors breathing. By noticing changes in the respiration rate and increased build-up of sweat on the skin, the belt can wirelessly send a message to a parent or guardian to take action.
Here’s the Rice development team demonstrating and discussing the SMART belt:
Press release: Rice has help for people with epilepsy…