universityofalabama
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Sensor helps you watch your diet by tracking your chewing
Tired of having to catalog every meal in your favorite fitness app just to get a sense of whether or not you're burning enough energy? You might get some relief in the near future. The University of Alabama has built an ear-worn sensor that estimates your food intake by tracking your chewing. The Automatic Ingestion Monitor (AIM) combines imagery of your meals with jaw vibrations to determine both the volume and energy levels of whatever you're eating. It's smart enough to filter out talking, so you won't throw it off by holding conversations in between bites.
Wii remote enrolled in student-developed CPR training program
Taking a more passive approach with the Wii remote than, say, operating a 15-ton grapple or saving your friends on Tatooine, a team of biomedical engineering undergraduates at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have been developing a companion CPR training program. Using the controller's built-in accelerometer, it tracks hand position as you practice those vital life-saving maneuverings, charting depth and rate of compression to give you a more accurate performance reading than the conventional Resusci Anne mannequin. The American Heart Association is sure impressed: it just pledged a $50,000 fund to UAB for the continuation of the project. The software's expected to be complete early fall 2009, with an open source download being released on the AHA website. No telling what these crazy kids'll accomplish once MotionPlus gets its time to shine.[Via Coolest Gadgets]
Self-healing panels cry for help when damaged
Scientists at the University of Alabama have just developed a "self-healing material," that releases a "syrupy epoxy" stored inside an outer polymer paneling when the exterior is breached. The epoxy flows into cracks or damaged areas and sets when exposed to UV light, reports NewScientist. In addition, embedded circuitry alerts technicians armed with a special wand to damaged areas. As the website reports further: "This is because the wand induces a current in the embedded circuit when it is intact. When the circuit is damaged this cannot happen and the wand sounds an alarm." We hope that these eggheads plan on collaborating with the University of Michigan's self-healing chip project so that both universities can create the ultimate in self-sustaining electronics. [Photo: University of Alabama]
