Scanadu has been working on what's basically a personal health monitoring device that, when placed on the forehead, senses personal health information and uploads it to your smartphone. The device is a torus about two inches in diameter and can monitor temperature, respiratory rate, heart rate and blood pressure.
The company founder and CEO Walter De Brouwer has announced at CES that there is now a working prototype and showed it off. However, the device needs FDA approval before it can be sold.
The era of personal health and fitness monitoring is exploding now that we have sophisticated smartphones in our pockets. And it doesn't stop there. Other wearable computing devices, even Google Glass, could eventually display our vital signs second by second. Wireless bloodstream implants to monitor body chemistry could be next.
The Scanadu Scout has been compared to Star Trek's classic tricorder from the original series nearly 50 years ago. But that show is frozen in time. Where we go next with modern hardware, and how fast, is anyone's guess.
Check It Out: Scanadu Scout: Star Trek's Medical Tricorder Takes Form
