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New sensor monitors your blood oxygen levels while you workout

Moxy, a stick-on sensor geared towards athletes, tracks blood oxygen levels in their muscles in real-time, displaying data in third-party apps.

Moxy, a new type of wearable fitness monitor, attaches to one’s skin and tracks blood oxygen levels in real-time before displaying the data in a third-party app. At 2.4 x 1.72 x .82-inches (6.1 x 4.4 x 2.1 cm), the discrete devise is smaller than the size of a post-it note.

Moxy

As a device is intended for athletes, it is strong enough to withstand the rigors of motocross and rugby, secure enough to operate in a swimming pool, and portable enough to be worn on the football field.

Together, the device’s light emitting diodes and photo detectors create the spectrometer that makes Muscle Oxygen measurement possible. The LEDs transmit near-infrared light through the skin into the muscle tissue, and then back out to extract a reading on blood oxygen levels.

Near-infrared light is advantageous for this purpose as blood that is rich in oxygen absorbs more infrared light, and hemoglobin and myoglobin change color in range, depending on whether or not they are carrying oxygen. Using detectors to examine the light that makes it through a portion of skin and tissue can indicate how well oxygenated the blood is.

Weighing just under 40 grams (half that of most smartwatches), its Lithium Polymer battery has 30 hours of run time, a 90-minute recharge time, and can store data for up to five hours. Moxy features a Standard Micro USB connector for changing and receiving data, and an ANT+ Radio for transmitting data to sport watches, smart phones, and computers.

Moxy’s most remarkable feature is its Connect IQ, software that allows customized apps to run on Garmin watches. There are currently nine apps and devices that can incorporate data from Moxy into fitness tracking, such as IpBike, an app that converts an Android phone into a bike computer.

Available now for $770, the full science and technology behind Moxy can be found here.

Via Gizmag

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