IBM Develops Fingernail Sensor That Uses AI to Track Patient Health, Disease Progressions
8:36:9 2018-12-29 909

IBM researchers have developed a first-of-a-kind "fingernail sensor" prototype that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to monitor and analyze human health as well as disease progression.

 

The wearable, wireless device continuously measures how a person's fingernail bends and moves, which is a key indicator of grip strength.

 

Although skin-based sensors can help capture things like motion, the health of muscles and nerve cells, and can also reflect the intensity of a person's emotional state, these can often cause problems, including infection with older patients.

 

But the new system uses signals from the fingernail bends such as the tactile sensing of pressure, temperature, surface textures.

 

 

"Our fingernails deform - bend and move - in stereotypic ways when we use them for gripping, grasping, and even flexing and extending our fingers. This deformation is usually on the order of single digit microns and not visible to the naked eye," said Katsuyuki Sakuma, from IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center in New York.

 

The new device, reported in the journal Scientific Reports, consists of strain gauges attached to the fingernail and a small computer that samples strain values, collects accelerometer data and communicates with a smartwatch.

 

The watch also runs machine learning models to rate bradykinesia, tremor, and dyskinesia which are all symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

 

"By pushing computation to the end of our fingers, we've found a new use for our nails by detecting and characterizing their subtle movements," Sakuma said.

 

"With the sensor, we can derive health state insights and enable a new type of user interface. This work has also served as the inspiration for a new device modelled on the structure of the fingertip that could one day help quadriplegics communicate," Sakuma noted.

Forgive Others   2025-07-23
Reality Of Islam

A Mathematical Approach to the Quran

10:52:33   2024-02-16  

mediation

2:36:46   2023-06-04  

what Allah hates the most

5:1:47   2023-06-01  

allahs fort

11:41:7   2023-05-30  

striving for success

2:35:47   2023-06-04  

Imam Ali Describes the Holy Quran

5:0:38   2023-06-01  

livelihood

11:40:13   2023-05-30  

silence about wisdom

3:36:19   2023-05-29  

Gold remains perfectly solid wh

read more

MOST VIEWS

Importance of Media

9:3:43   2018-11-05

Illuminations

your children

7:32:24   2022-02-14

good people

11:34:48   2022-06-29

smiling

1:38:41   2021-12-08

al-hussain (peace be upon him)

10:18:1   2022-09-21

logic

12:47:1   2022-12-20

educators

9:50:37   2023-02-28



IMmORTAL Words
LATEST Just One High-Fat Meal Can Disrupt Blood Flow to Your Brain, Study Finds Release of ChatGPT-5 Beginning of a New Era for Humanity Giant Stick Insect Found Hiding in Rainforest May Be Australias Heaviest The Role and Influence of Friends Interpretation of Sura Hud - Verses 114-115 Summary of the Meanings of Patience Switching Off for a Moment Lets Your Brain Do Something Wonderful OpenAI Launches Free, Customizable AI Models in Major Strategic Shift Lightning Kills Way More Trees Than You Would Ever Believe How Can You Save Your Marriage? Interpretation of Sura Hud - Verses 111-113 Importance of Patience in the Light of Traditions