The portable tracking device provides a more accurate position tracking with thermal sensors

In a new study published in npj digital medicine, a team led by researchers at the Child Mind Institute, said a portable tracking device they have developed allows for better accuracy of position tracking using thermal sensors, in addition to Inertial and proximity sensors. The wrist device, called Tingle, was also able to distinguish behaviors directed to six different locations of the head. The document, "Thermal sensors improve the monitoring of the wrist position", provides preliminary evidence of the potential use of the device in the diagnosis and management of disorders of excoriation ( chronic skin sting), nail bites, trichotillomania other repetitive behaviors centered on the body (BFRB).

The researchers, led by Arno Klein, Ph.D., director of innovative technologies, Joseph Healey Scholar, and principal investigator at the Child Mind Institute's Center for Brain Development, collected data from 39 healthy adult volunteers in Canada. making them a series of repetitive behaviors by wearing the Tingle. The Tingle was designed by the institute's MATTER laboratory to pbadively collect thermal, proximity and accelerometer data.

Dr. Klein and colleagues found that the thermal sensor data improved the ability of the Tingle device to accurately distinguish the hand position at different points in the head, which would be useful for detecting clinically relevant BFRBs. BFRBs are linked to various mental and neurological diseases, including autism, Tourette's syndrome and Parkinson's disease.

"Repetitive, body-centered behaviors can cause significant harm and distress," said Dr. Klein. "Our results are very promising as they indicate that thermal sensors of devices such as the Tingle can be used for many types of hand-to-hand training, for navigating in virtual environments, as well as for monitoring and the mitigation of repetitive and compulsive behaviors such as BFRB. "