The Rogers Research Group at the U of I is making news for one of its latest innovations: stretchable electronics.
The group has changed the wearable technology game by developing a tiny device that can be worn on the skin for up to five days to track your exposure to UV rays.
Here is Fastcompany’s description of the new technology:
Launching in June from La Roche-Posay parent company L’Oréal, My UV Patch is the first stretchable electronic for mainstream consumers. Stick it anywhere on your skin, wear it for up to five days, and use the accompanying app to see how many rays you’ve soaked up. If it sounds simple, it isn’t: the tiny device contains a near-field communication (NFC) antenna and a microchip, which wirelessly send signals to your phone, as well as photosensitive dyes that change color based on their exposure to light.
The product is the result of years of academic research into how to transform typically hard, rigid electronics into pliable materials that can easily conform to the contours of another object (particularly the human body) and send data to computers or smartphones using NFC and Bluetooth.