We often debate the question of how big can a device be before we stop calling it a “mobile device”. At the other end of the scale, how small can a device be before we stop refering to it as mobile? According to Janet Fang, writing in the blog SmartPlanet, “Soon, patients will be able to buy smart pills that have tiny ingestible sensors that can help track their medication use.” These sensor-enabled tablets are called Helius, and come with “ingestible event markers.” This makes them useful in tracking when people take medicines. Patients not taking their meds as prescribed cost the US $290 billion in increased medical costs last year. Find out how these pills work by clicking here. Expect to see similar technologies be deployed at various sites around the human body, all interconnected in ”body area networks” (BANs). These will become the new diagnostic tool, replacing trips to the doctor’s office.
New pill with ingestible microchip monitors you from the inside | Janet Fang | SmartPlanet | 17 January 2012
