A team of innovative students at Brigham Young University, are in the process of developing a new kind of baby monitor that could eventually offer parents a vital weapon in the battle against Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
This high-tech smart-sock which wraps around an infant’s foot uses a built-in pulse oximetry that can wirelessly monitor a sleeping baby’s heart rate and blood-oxygen levels — allowing parents to sleep easier knowing that their baby is breathing normally.
Should an infant display any dramatic change in heart rate or suddenly stop breathing — the baby monitor will alert parents on their smartphone.
Jacob Colvin, along with his five colleagues working on this non-invasive SIDS monitoring device hope their work will someday reduce the number of SIDS-related deaths.
“Our hope is that we can give parents time to react and see that something’s wrong before it’s too late,” said Colvin, a father of two himself.
While students are in the process of finalizing patent applications, there is still much work to be done — refining prototypes and doing more testing with their Owlet Baby Monitor.
“If we can hear just one mother say that we made a difference, it would all be worth it,” Jacob Colvin told BYU News. “That makes all the difference in the world.”
In addition to Colvin, the Owlet team includes mechanical engineering students Wyatt Felt and Jason Dearden — chemical engineering students Kurt Workman and Anna Hawes along with Tanor Gil Hodges, a Health Care Assistant serving at the University of Utah.
via BYU News
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