US researchers published a study earlier this month about a wearable computer chip. They intend for it to be used for health monitoring, implementing neuromorphic style AI technology.

The typical method of acquiring a thorough understanding of a patient’s health necessitates a visit to a doctor surgery or hospital. Similarly, current wearable smart technology such as smart phones and watches are limited in the amount of data they can collect and/or analyse, for example metabolite or immunity levels.

To bridge this gap, Sihong Wang, Assistant Professor of Molecular Engineering and materials scientist, and his team at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering aimed to create a wearable biosensor that could monitor complex health indicators but remain skin-like in its wearability.

When considering functionality, security and programming, the team discounted the idea of creating a device which sends data wirelessly to a centralised AI point for analysis. They believe this method to be slow and insecure whilst raising energy usage. Therefore, their solution is to incorporate AI technology within the device that can monitor results and make its own ‘decisions’ based on that information.

The incorporation of artificial intelligence is possible due to the teams use of assembled polymers, a material used in semiconductors and electrochemical transmitters. This chip operates in a similar way to the human brain, hence the term neuromorphic. It is capable of integrated storage and analysis of data.