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Science Technology

A Black Box for People 197

Posted by michael from the no-happy-endings-in-space dept.
lightwaveman writes "Developed for astronauts, a small device called 'the CPOD' does for people what black boxes do for airplanes. It's a compact, portable, wearable device -- a single piece of equipment that gathers a wide variety of vital signs. About the size of a computer mouse, a CPOD is worn around the waist. It's comfortable enough to be worn while sleeping. It's non-invasive. It takes only minutes to don. Importantly, it can track a person's physiologic functioning as they go about their normal routine -- they don't have to be tethered to some stationary device. It can store data for eight-hour periods for later downloading; alternatively, it can send it wirelessly, in real time, to some other device."
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A Black Box for People More

A Black Box for People

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  • Perfect for my daughter (Score:5, Funny)

    by capt.Hij ( 318203 ) on Thursday April 08, 2004 @11:32AM (#8803939) Homepage Journal
    This is exactly what I have been looking for! If only it could be made so that it is hard to remove then it would be perfect for my daughter....

  • I'm ready for it (Score:4, Insightful)

    by slimak ( 593319 ) on Thursday April 08, 2004 @11:32AM (#8803942)
    All the "invasion of privacy" posts that will follow from the fact that this can transmit your vitals wirelessly. I guess in this case it is somewhat true, but then again, what do I care if someone knows my heartrate is 84 and increases to 108 whenever a hot blond walks up?
    • While this specific device is most certainly new, heart monitors have been capable of doing this for years. Those are smaller than beepers and allow you (using 50baud modem technology) to transmit your history to a hospital.
      • Oooh I've been waiting for something like this to come along. A total bio-feedback device (or as total as current technology allows). I can watch the effects of what I eat, attribute my mood to biological factors when necessary.. In fact the psychological potential is huge.

        If it's the level of self-awareness that makes humans unique, then this can only lead us further in the right direction.

        How do I buy one? ThinkGeek- are you working on this?
    • Depends. Is the blonde male, and have you come out yet?
    • I don't think there will be too much provacy problems. If you have a problem with it then you can just take it off or not wear it in the first place.
    • Sexual harrassment cases? "Sir, we have evidence that, during a meeting Ms. Hotbabe walked in at 10.35 and your heart rate rose 20 beats a second. Are you seriously suggesting you were not dangerously aroused in her presence?" "Atkins, you're not stressed and you don't need a holiday. Your figures prove it."
      • Yes, Mr. Lawyerman. Apparently, my heartbate rose, although at the time I was not aware of it. I can't speak with certainty about whether this was due to arousal in Ms. Hotbabe's presence. In any case, I was entirely in control of my faculties and at no point made any harrassing gestures or comment, nor did I take any inapropriate actions.

        Please. This thing would potentially make more information available, but if you and I can easily see the falacy of jumping from one relatively useless fact to a conclusi
        • I'm not a lawyer, I'm a software developer. But in all seriousness, it's not a straw man argument: if people use a service like this, it is open to being used in a court. Email is used in course (cf Microsoft), and most people thought email was private (see German legal system and Gmail). Information will be free, and it will be used. By whoever wants to use it... Sorry, bit pissed. It's a holiday. Cheers!
    • Your insurance company might.

    • Re:I'm ready for it (Score:3, Insightful)

      by wtansill ( 576643 )
      I can see it now -- the advertising community taps in to my CPOD unit:
      • "He's constipated -- send him Metamucil coupons!"
      • "He's ogling a pretty girl -- send advertisments for Viagra, condoms, and cheap hotels."
      • "He's eating chili -- send over a sample of Rolaids or Pepcid AC."
      • "He's working past 8:00 pm again -- send coupons for takeout chinese."
      And so it goes...
    • Operator: We're glad you've chosen to apply for our Bank Zero line of credit, Mrs. Goldberg. May I call you Delores?

      Hoarse, masculine voice: Er, sure. Whatever.

      Operator: Wonderful. Now we just need to verify your identity.

      Hoarse, masculine voice: My pulse is 85 right now. BP 150 over 200. And, yes, I'm already seeing a doctor about it.

      Operator: That's just fine. So, you said you wanted this line of credit made out to "Eddie's House of Hot Skin" in San Pedro, right?

      Hmmmph. I may have just fou

    • A tool like this sounds exactly what Robert Cringely was describing [pbs.org] after the death [pbs.org] of his son, Chase, from SIDS [sids-network.org].

      As a parent, I'd broadcast my son's vitals 24/7 on MTV if it meant helping other parents save their children from things like this.

  • Real log (Score:5, Funny)

    by grub ( 11606 ) <slashdot@grub.net> on Thursday April 08, 2004 @11:32AM (#8803945) Homepage Journal

    10:03:01 waking signs detected.
    10:04:31 leaning at 70 degree angle, right hand grasping
    item at temperature of 5 degrees C.
    10:04:42 2 litre Pepsi consumed.
    10:10:52 8 slices pizza consumed.
    10:14:23 User vertical.
    10:15:38 User sitting, bowels active.
    10:15:43 3 slices pizza consumed, user sitting, bowels active.
    10:16:31 1 litre Pepsi consumed, user sitting, bowels & bladder active.
    10:18:34 User vertical.
    [...]
    10:30:18 User in vehicle.
    10:31:12 450 gram bag "Chee-tos" consumed.
    10:42:12 User enters parking lot.
    10:43:01 User parks, spot "reserved: George Lucas"

  • Compulsory? (Score:1, Flamebait)

    by carcosa30 ( 235579 )
    And they're going to make us wear them, right?

    • Re:Compulsory? (Score:2, Troll)

      by Have Blue ( 616 )
      They're not going to make you wear them, unless they're worried your tinfoil hat is cutting off circulation to your brain. This is intended as a replacement for large stationary medical equipment, especially in places where space is extremely tight (space station) or it's not feasible to tie the subject down for a few hours. However, I could easily see it entering the civilian medical market as a monitoring device for the elderly or anyone else unable to properly examine themselves or request assistance if

  • Sheesh (Score:5, Funny)

    by stoolpigeon ( 454276 ) <bittercode@gmail> on Thursday April 08, 2004 @11:33AM (#8803952) Homepage Journal
    If they can make the cpod keep working after a human dies- why don't they just make the whole human out of the same stuff as the cpod?

  • huh? (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Sounds like a glorafied tape recorder to me, you know, the kind lawyers and college kids use.

    Will it die for your sins, though?
  • ...make the whole astronaut out of these? Sorry. lame joke.

  • hmmm... (Score:2, Funny)

    by trix_e ( 202696 )
    I was thinking they were going to make a black box to put people *in*... it seems that thing always survives the crash, so it only seems logical to make the entire plane/car out of the stuff...

  • Something else for the hypochondriacs to buy to make sure they aren't sick

    Something else for the Tin-Hat crowd to complain about

    Something else that has a reasonably good medical use

    High tech

    But does it run Linux? And if so, which distro?

    I'm so confused as to whether I like this idea or not.

  • Sounds very much like the Medical Mood Ring (Score:5, Informative)

    by sirdude ( 578412 ) on Thursday April 08, 2004 @11:34AM (#8803969)
    Sounds very much like the Medical Mood Ring [technologyreview.com].
  • From the pictures, that looks like one LARGE computer mouse... I have serious doubts I'd find it comfortable to sleep with that thing strapped to my waist.

    At any rate... this is yet another one of those inventions that make me think "What? We didn't have that yet? Must've just been in some novel I read..."

    Still wonder what CPOD stands for, the article doesn't seem to explain. :p
    • Still wonder what CPOD stands for, the article doesn't seem to explain. :p

      It does say:
      It's a compact, portable, wearable device
      so it might just be that - Compact POrtable Device. That's not very inspired though.
    • I have serious doubts I'd find it comfortable to sleep with that thing strapped to my waist.
      It was developed for astronauts - maybe the original context of that was zero-G.

    • Re:Size (Score:2, Insightful)

      by lrucker ( 621551 )
      I have serious doubts I'd find it comfortable to sleep with that thing strapped to my waist.

      Consider that if you're doing it for medical reasons, the alternative is wires stuck to your head - yeah, it's comfortable. (Mom had a stroke and every couple of weeks she has to be wired up for a day or two)

  • medical breakthrough (Score:5, Insightful)

    by millahtime ( 710421 ) on Thursday April 08, 2004 @11:35AM (#8803985) Homepage Journal
    This could be a medical breakthrough. There are so many times when you may have spurratic symptoms and when you go see the doctor he can't see any of them. With this he can see when something was happening what was going on. Help send them in a better direction. This could really help people out.

    • Re:medical breakthrough (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      spurratic symptons for those so fewer than the norm. if there is practicing physician here. i have to ask you: is this unnecessary paranoia?
    • Perhaps we could even further enhance the system by allowing the symptoms to be transmitted as an email attachment to the doctor. He could then diagnose your illness, and call a prescription in to your pharmacy without ever having to see you. As the technology progressed, we could have the diagnosis made automatically by a computer.

      Eventually, you would just take your readings to the pharmacy, put them in a machine, and receive your prescription. Drug interactions, body weight/type, and past conditions cou

  • I'll sure be wearing it... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Lord of Ironhand ( 456015 ) <arjen@xyx.nl> on Thursday April 08, 2004 @11:36AM (#8803995) Homepage
    ... under my tinfoil hat!

  • Obvious other uses (Score:4, Insightful)

    by MBAFK ( 769131 ) on Thursday April 08, 2004 @11:36AM (#8804001)
    One of my friends works as a carer in an old peopels home, she reckons this thing could be really helpful (since they are massively understaffed).
    • It could be a good way to not only monitor their health but to make sure that they do not wander off. - the only issue I see is the size. It is pretty large. I couldn't sleep with that thing strapped to my stomach - and I would think it would be even worse for someone of large girth.

    • Warnings (Score:3, Funny)

      by dafz1 ( 604262 )
      For nursing home patients:

      "(user) needs food."

      "(user) needs food BADLY!"

      "(user) is about to die!"
  • The /. writeup led me to believe this was for people with medical problems, but it looks like it was developed mostly for astronauts. Neat stuff. Only one thing, I'm a little disappointed by the size of the box and the need to hook all of those probes up to you. Shouldn't we have some of this crap woven right into space suits by now? I mean, it's 2004, and the best we can do is this big ugly box strapped to your chest?

    Yeah, I know. I watch too much sci-fi.
    • "I mean, it's 2004, and the best we can do is..."

      I want my goddamn flying car. Traffic sucks ass. Driving hasn't changed significantly for decades. Cars are shinier but the driving experience is still the same old drek. We're due for a revolution!

      Back to the topic at hand... I don't really think this thing is the best anyone has come up with but I'm not an expert.

  • Advertising (Score:3, Funny)

    by gr8_phk ( 621180 ) on Thursday April 08, 2004 @11:36AM (#8804006)
    When you're hungry it can send that information to hot spots that can then send you ads for nearby food stuff :-)

  • A "Black Box" for the body? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Gudlyf ( 544445 ) <<moc.ketsilaer> <ta> <fyldug>> on Thursday April 08, 2004 @11:37AM (#8804009) Homepage Journal
    So I guess if I wear this thing and I blow up into thousands of chunks, drown in hundreds of feet of water or smack into a building at hundreds of miles an hour, people will know WTF was going on with me at the time.

    Other than that, a good autopsy would probably suffice, eh?

  • Look at the pictures. That's the size of no mouse I've used. Sleeping on that thing would be comparable to sleeping with a toaster.

    • Re:It's Huge (Score:2, Funny)

      by JLyle ( 267134 )
      Sleeping on that thing would be comparable to sleeping with a toaster.
      How many toasters did you have to sleep with to come to that conclusion?

  • wow (Score:5, Funny)

    by WormholeFiend ( 674934 ) on Thursday April 08, 2004 @11:38AM (#8804020)
    If they add a miniature harddrive and mp3 playback, I think they'll have an iPod killer!

    Then you could analyse your body's response relative to your favourite music... and if you put a big enough color lcd screen on the thing, you could also have a screensaver thingie that produces psychedelic swirls based on your physiological data!

    • If you're tripped out by your screensaver, your iBod would alter the screensaver to reflect that and, in turn, trip you out even more which would make your iBod...

      fs
  • ... data is always useful, and if astronauts and pilots wear these, we can get a much better picture afterward of how they met their deaths. For the price of a silly dongle hanging off their belts, this can give us a better outline of the accident.

    Remember a couple of years ago about that small passenger jet that went offline, cruised until it ran out of fuel, then crashed? The fighter pilots scrambled to intercept it reported that the windows were misted over, hence they couldn't tell anything about the crew and passengers.

    On the flip side, a combat vet with thousands of flying hours can find his flight status revoked due to some health metric that the flight doc didn't like. Flying a desk is a living hell for these guys.
    • > small passenger jet went offline, cruised until it ran out of fuel, then crashed? The fighter pilots scrambled to intercept it reported that the windows were misted over, hence they couldn't tell anything about the crew and passengers.

      What do you think misted over those windows?
      I think we all know what happened.
      Stewardess: "oh yes"
      Captain: "oh yes"
      Stewardess: "oh yes"
      Captain: "oh yes"
      Captin and Stewardess: "OH NO!"
    • That was Payne Stewart's (professional golfer, US Open winner) plane. His plane took off (with six people on board?) from Florida, went silent about thirty minutes after takeoff, and ended up crashing somewhere in South Dakota when it ran out of fuel.

      There may be results from the FAA accident investigation - I don't know.
      • The aircraft lost cabin pressure at very high altitude (40,000+ feet?) and all aboard died very quickly (seconds, maybe a minute) from hypoxia (lack of oxygen) loooong before the aircraft ran out of fuel and crashed. At such high altitudes, not even breathing 100% oxygen will keep you alive, unless you're in a pressurized cabin since the O2 will literally boil out of your blood .
    • http://www.abc.net.au/pm/s674866.htm

      PM - Coroner critises NTSB following plane crash

      PM - Thursday, 12 September , 2002 00:00:00
      Reporter: Ian Townsend
      HAMISH ROBERTSON: The West Australian coroner has taken the Australian Transport Safety Bureau to task over the way it investigated a plane crash that killed eight men two years ago.

      The men were aboard a plane that left Perth and travelled more than 2,000 kilometres on autopilot, before it crashed in Queensland's remote north west.

      The inquest failed to det
  • Just like aliens. Obligatory quote:

    Hudson: I am ready, man. Ready to get it on. Check-it-out. I am the ultimate badass...state of the badass art. You do not want to fuck with me. Hey, Ripley, don't worry. Me and my squad of ultimate badasses will protect you. Check-it-out... Independently targetting particle-beam phalanx.

  • Predictive? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Apparition-X ( 617975 ) on Thursday April 08, 2004 @11:41AM (#8804061)
    I wonder whether future versions will offer predictive capabilities? Imgine being told you are going to have a heart attack in 15 minutes? Now add wireless, and imagine have an ambulance show up, ask you to get in, and take you to the hospital just in time for your impending cardiac arrest. Gee wireless, just in time supply chain, predictive diagnostics, with that many buzzwords, its gonna be a hit for sure!
    • Imgine being told you are going to have a heart attack in 15 minutes?

      And then getting a notice within 10 minutes from your insurance company that your policy is cancelled. ;)
      • this sounds funny, but ive considered something like this for a car for a long time... imagine being able to cheat the mandatory insurance laws by getting $10/mo insurance that required you to carry a black box in your car that called and cancelled your insurance just prior to any accident?
  • Jim Waldo recently spoke at the 7th Jini Community Meeting about the uses of these very same types of devices. Here are the slides [jini.org] to the presentation.

  • Not really NEW technology..... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by thewiz ( 24994 ) * on Thursday April 08, 2004 @11:42AM (#8804087)
    The CPOD is really just an extension of a device called a Holter Monitor that cardiologists use on their patients. Holters used to be just a tape recorder that recorded your heartbeat/respiration for up to 36-hours. Now you can get digital versions that do all that and MORE (for only $19.95! Order now!)
    You can also plug them into ECG machines, have them transmit data over phone lines, via a radio while in a hospital, etc. I'm actually surprised it took NASA this long to adapt something that has been in use publicly for many years. It used to be that technology was developed by NASA and then the public sector adopted it.

    • I'm actually surprised it took NASA this long to adapt something that has been in use publicly for many years. It used to be that technology was developed by NASA and then the public sector adopted it.

      This does a little more than the Holters. It records BP as well as blood gas. The blood pressure test is the kicker for me. I have absolutely no idea how it records BP without a cuff, but is one of the more telling vital signs.

      I also assume that since it's being compared to a "black box", it can sta

    • Actually, the device is combining the technology that went into Holter Monitors with the technology that is in current internal/automatic insulin testing and despensing montors (The kind that people have tapped directly into their pancreas.)

      It seems from the article, however, that these devices are monitoring blood levels which would require little tiny lab tests int the device.

      THEY STOLE MY COLLECTION OF 1CM PHLEBOTOMISTS!!
  • A couple of years ago, the oft-quoted PBS techno-pundit Robert X Cringely [pbs.org] lost his son [pbs.org] to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS [sids.org]).

    In subsequent articles, he proposed a distributed computing project to try to track down the cause of SIDS by outfitting infants with wearable computers [pbs.org] that would gather all sorts of data in the hopes of determining the cause(s) of SIDS.

    He even had the brainwave of trying to sell the spare computing cycles of the devices to work on distributed processing tasks as a way to subsidiz
  • Sounds French [in-berlin.de] to me.

    Communication Personelle/Professionelle Ouverts et Digital (Communication Personelle/Professionelle Open and Digital)

  • I assume that this could be the next generation 'medical alert' bracelet. Just having all that information for the paramedic team in the interim between the time where the person was incapacitated and medical treatment could be the difference between life and death. That, and of course, have the wireless reciever set with an autodialer anytime certain vitals go wild. It could be a revolution in care for the elderly and sick.

  • Quick, bring it to market! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by GPLDAN ( 732269 ) on Thursday April 08, 2004 @11:53AM (#8804207)
    I wanted to say something witty and get modded funny, something about "I've fallen and can't get up!" - but I honestly think in a few months, at best, infomercials will start catering this tech to the elderly. The boomers are moving towards geriatric age, they will want a RF based device in their home that auto dials 911 if they have a heart attack or a stroke.

    Right now, if I am ADT or one of the home security firms, I am aggressively looking to buy, develop or partner with a hospice firm to tie the two together.

  • But.. (Score:2, Funny)

    by cZ4r ( 768343 )
    WTF, it can't play mp3!!1
  • (driving around with CPOD_hack tool)... "hey, there's a guy that needs a bad day."

    > CPOD_hack that.guy.over.there -fake_heartattack

    Some girl thinks she likes you, but isn't sure... send her CPOD a signal!

    > CPOD_hack those.girls -symptoms_of_love

    ha ha.
  • if only this was available years ago....Jimmy Hoffa wouldn't be "lost" (assuming that the black box could be found).

    I guess it's also useful for miners too. Though I can see the potential of abuse (especially by life insurance companies). For instance, if a bunch of miners are trapped and killed when the mine caves in, the black boxes when recovered could tell how exactly they died. Well what if the insurance policy on the mine doesn't cover heart attacks or strokes caused by the stress of the accident

  • It's like a plane's black box? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    So like, after i die a strange death, people will be able to replay my final moments?

    thud thud thud...
    sound of traffic whirring by...
    *cough*
    "hey man, check out that hottie at 9 oclock"
    "WHERE!?"
    SCREEEECCHHH!!!
    "AAAHHH!"
    *t hud* *crinkly* *thunk*
    "eerrghhgh" ...

  • Useful mods: (Score:3, Funny)

    by Cyran0 ( 628243 ) on Thursday April 08, 2004 @12:03PM (#8804308)
    I can see it now... all the mods:

    Warwalking mod: vibrates when you're in range of an open node

    Bootcamp mod: cusses you out if your heart rate drops below a specified limit ("Get off yer ass, slacker! Double-time! hup! hup!")

    slack mod: tells you to chill out if your blood pressure rises above a specified limit ("deep breath, dude... feel your chakra")
  • Now if we can only get the Death Tapes mentioned in Robert Zelanzy's "Isle of the Dead". Of course this would violate the clonning research ban but that is a separate issue.

  • A Box For Black People? (Score:3, Funny)

    by greygent ( 523713 ) on Thursday April 08, 2004 @12:08PM (#8804362) Homepage
    I thought Slashdot went Slaschdaut on me for a second, there.

  • Star Trek (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Compulawyer ( 318018 ) on Thursday April 08, 2004 @12:19PM (#8804503)
    Isn't this essentially an alpha version of the devices worn around the waist by the crew in Star Trek: The Motion Picture [joblo.com] from way back in 1979? You can get a view of the device here [lycos.fr].

    Add another Trek device to the list of real-world inventions.

  • It seems like a dot com ad. We have this great technology but I cannot find a price or where you can purchase it. Are they looking for VC dollars to make it public?
  • Similar item in the form factor of a shirt, links on this page to videos of the shirt:

    LifeShirt Demos [vivometrics.com]
  • I imagine some groups have had this for some time (SWAT teams, special forces, etc.)

    Snake? SNAKE!

  • ... would it be a p-Pod?
  • ...does it come in 5 shagadelic colors?

    Thank-yah-vury-much. I'll be playing here all week, folks.
  • OT: I misread it as "Science: A Black Box for People", where I thought that the article was about science being so complex that the average Joe/Jane can't grok how most of our advancements have been achieved. People, in general, regard most technology as black boxes because they have absolutely know clue as to how stuff works. Science might be a black box also because most discoveries are so esoteric that people have no idea what they are, much less how it will benifit their lives. This could be dangerous b

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