One Day This Tech Onesie May Help a Baby With Jaundice #WearableWednesday #wearabletech #tech #Arduino #health
Biomedical engineering students at University of Rhode Island have created a garment that can help babies with jaundice, according to a post from URI Today. The onesie was inspired by a fellow nursing student that revealed the challenges of treating preterm babies with this potentially dangerous skin yellowing condition. The effective treatment for jaundice is light, which gets tricky to administer.
The photo-therapy box is the most common treatment, but it’s far from perfect. The infant cannot be held, missing out on skin-to-skin contact with a parent. And eye damage is a risk if the baby pulls off the required protective glasses.
Swathing the baby in a Biliblanket is another option. Home treatment is possible, the baby can he held, and the risk of eye damage is eliminated, but the blanket only covers the baby’s torso, requiring longer treatment time.
Joshua Harper and James Baez used a microcontroller with bluetooth capability for their J-Suit, so LED strips can be controlled easily with a mobile device. The LEDs face inside allowing the baby’s body to be exposed to blue light without damage to the eyes. The onesie was created for The Wearable Internet of Things class, and I encourage you to check out the university’s post to learn about their other successful wearable tech projects. If you want to control LEDs with your phone, take a look at our guide for the snazzy LED Matrix Snowflake Sweater. Pick colors on the wheel of the Adafruit Bluefruit LE app and you’ll have your snowflake doing rainbows quicker than a unicorn. How will you deploy the power of light?
