BioShirt to monitor temperature, heart rate of athletes
Some of us here at Engadget enjoy spending our off-hours going for a run (believe it or not, we actually do have them on rare occasion) . While our routines don't quite compare to runners who train for marathons and other such intense sporting activities, we're nonetheless interested in the cool gadgetry that these hard-core types get to use. Earlier this week, a team of South Korean researchers debuted the BioShirt at the National Sports Festival, currently ongoing in that country. The BioShirt is specifically designed with athletics in mind and monitors the runner's temperature, heart rate and speed; it then sends that data to a wrist-worn monitor via Bluetooth. Kim Seung-hwan, the leader of the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute team that built the BioShirt, told The Korea Times that the shirt could also have similar applications as a monitoring system for elderly or infirmed patients who need constant attention -- an idea we've seen before. Still, for some this runner's tech can't come too soon, especially after the loss of former Wired editor Bill Goggins earlier this year, who passed away from heart failure while running the San Francisco Marathon this past July.
Filed under: Wearables
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Smilesaurus @ Oct 22nd 2006 5:39AM
I can definetly think of a lot of uses for this thing, in just about everywhere, from training to research.... endless
I can see this becoming mainstream already, even though there are numerous other (mostly not in shirt form) gadgets that do similiar functions.
Tyler @ Oct 22nd 2006 7:52AM
Adidas has had one of these things out for a little while in conjunction with Polar. Might not do the temperature thing, though.
gfar @ Oct 22nd 2006 9:25AM
Hasn't anyone seen Rocky IV?! No matter how much technology backs someone, climbing mountains and lifting boulders will always defeat science and the russians.
Anyone who supports this shirt is a commie bastard.
Kris @ Oct 22nd 2006 10:19AM
I can't wait for the hack that makes you beep like in Zelda before you die!
OPTICAL OUT PLEASE @ Oct 22nd 2006 12:08PM
It measures body temperature? How? Via rectal thermometer; not sure how comfy that would be during a marathon; the chaffing wouldnt be nice.
Bweetza @ Oct 22nd 2006 12:13PM
Make it change colors like a Hypercolor t-shirt and I'm all over it.
hehehhehe @ Oct 22nd 2006 2:31PM
Meh. It just looks like a tank top with a heart monitor strapped on. There's no difference between that and someone wearing a Garmin forerunner 301/305 which does speed (GPS) and HRT. As far as temperature goes, I'm not sure how useful that'd be, most serious atheletes make sure to hydrate.
RijilV @ Oct 22nd 2006 8:10PM
So they intergrated a heart rate monitor into a shirt - how useless. Rather than have a band I wear under a shirt, everytime I use their system I have to wear their shirt. That will get pretty stinky pretty soon.
st @ Oct 24th 2006 8:48PM
i can't wait to put this through the wash