One of the entries in Co.Exist's recent list of World-Changing Ideas for 2014 is the concept of ingestible sensors, which people will swallow to monitor and improve their health. Biotech company Proteus Digital Health already has an early prototype: a "smart pill" made up of a sensor that is the size of a pinhead paired with a body patch that monitors activity and vital signs. Today, that sensor only transmits information about what pill a patient has taken and when they have taken it. But in the future, Proteus could go far beyond that.
Here's how its "Helius" system works:
A patient swallows their pill along with the sensor (Proteus is still working with pharmaceutical companies on integrating pills and sensors). The sensor is "only made from ingredients that you would find in your diet--essentially, it's a food-based computer that's built out of dietary minerals," explains Andrew Thompson, CEO of Proteus. Even the quantity of silicon, copper, and magnesium contained in the sensor is minute; the recommended daily allowance of copper, for example, is about 1.5 milligrams. Proteus's sensor contains seven micrograms. The system has no battery or antenna--it's powered inside the body by stomach fluids. "We've created a completely natural electrical signal inside your body using our device that then travels through your body just like a heartbeat would," says Thompson.
That signal is then picked up by the patch, which itself keeps track of health indicators like sleep, activity, temperature, respiration, and heart rate. Each sensor transmits a unique number, so doctors or caretakers know exactly what pill was taken by the patient. The patch transmits all of the sensor data and its own data every so often to a smartphone via Bluetooth. All of that data is then aggregated, so the smartphone user can see whether a patient is taking their medication, and how their body is responding over time.
