BodyMedia Inc announced the availability of its first body-monitoring products, the SenseWear Pro Armband, and the SenseWear Pro Development Kit (SDK). The SenseWear Pro Armband is the first economical, wearable, wireless body monitor capable of monitoring multiple body parameters outside of a lab environment. The SDK software application allows for the manipulation of the data collection process as well as analysis of the data.
"We're very excited to be releasing this innovative system. After two years of very focused development, we are able to offer a free-living physiological data collection application that will provide researchers with a tool for collecting data while study participants go about their everyday routines," says Dave Alioto, BodyMedia's VP of Sales and Marketing.
Data collected from the SenseWear Pro Armband, which utilizes a combination of six sensors, is uploaded to the SenseWear Pro Development Kit, which runs on Windows 98, 2000, or NT. Users have the ability to adjust sensor-sampling rate, enable or disable any of the 24 data channels, set reminders, and have the option of marking events with a timestamp. Once the SenseWear Pro Armband collects raw data, graphical representations can be viewed in the SDK and saved as jpeg files for easy sharing of data with other researchers who may not have the program. Once saved, the data can be cleared from the SenseWear Pro Armband and the preferences changed or reset, allowing one device to collect data from a multitude of research subjects. The data gathered and graphed by the two-part application can be imported into data-analysis packages like Excel and Matlab for review.
The system will be of particular interest to researchers and clinicians in governmental, educational, and pharmaceutical companies and related life science markets interested in analyzing, trending, and profiling physiological data that has been collected inside or outside of the lab environment. While the SenseWear Pro Armband is designed specifically for data collection applications, it is also compatible with BodyMedia's Balance Center.
The SenseWear Pro Armband technology combines a 2-axis accelerometer, a heat flow sensor, galvanic skin response sensor, skin temperature sensor, and ambient temperature sensor, into a wearable, wireless armband. The SenseWear Pro Armband also contains both a transmitter and a receiver, enabling it to function as a wireless third-party data collector.
The SenseWear Pro Armband is being brought to market at a price of $995 per device. The license for the SDK is $5,000. Both products are available for discount based on volume and will be ready for shipment in two weeks.
BodyMedia is also introducing its Third-Party Applications Program and will be providing a free heart rate monitor with the purchase of a SenseWear Pro Armband to show the integration of this device with the SenseWearä Platform and its support for wireless communication of heart-specific data.