Biosymbiotic Wearable Devices: A Personalized and Digitally Manufactured Platform for Continuous Collection of High-fidelity Biosignals

Abstract

Digital medicine, the ability to continuously stream information from the body to gain insight into health status, manage disease, and predict onset health problems is key to unlocking the next generation of medicine concepts. The realization digital medicine has been hindered by the slow pace of development of complementary wearable technology. Despite the increasing popularity and widespread dissemination of accessible wearable devices, none meet the standards required for achieving digital medicine. Specifically, they fail to achieve long-term, continuous, and high-fidelity data collection in form factors that are widely acceptable to the average person in an at-home setting. To overcome these hurdles, solutions in power supplies and interfacing strategies that maintain long-term, high-fidelity readouts are critical. To overcome these challenges, this work proposes a new class of wearable technology which we call biosymbiotic devices. This platform uses a high level of personalization facilitated through digital fabrication of soft and highly conformal elastomers and integrated flexible electronics that are automatically and individually fitted to the wearer. 3D printing and digital design allows for control of discrete and bulk mechanical properties for skin-like mechanical properties that can adhere to highly mobile regions of the body, which enable conformal sensing interface and increase data fidelity and relevancy. The utilization of 3D printing also allows for design and implementation of complex 3D structures to enhance on-body wireless power transfer, which can be augmented through behavioral analysis. The resulting platform is the first device to show continuous, multimodal sensing capabilities over 14-day experimental periods with clinical grade fidelity. The combination of state-of-the-art biosensing capabilities integrated into personalized, wireless, and battery-free platforms that can operate continuously and maintain epidermal contact without the use of adhesives opens a broad range of opportunities for digital medicine applications.