The PiiUS Sensor

A new little device that sticks onto your chest like a Band-Aid monitors your vital signs and sends the data to a clinic.

Imagine this: a little device that sticks onto your chest like a Band-Aid that constantly monitors your physical health by reading your heart rate, respiratory rate, bodily fluid levels and overall activity. It then transmits all that data to a central server for analysis and review by a doctor and by you as well.

But not only that, because hundreds of thousands of people wear little devices such as this, the readouts you’re all submitting create a database of vital signs that can be used by the device on your chest to predict when, for instance, you’re on the verge of heart failure. It gives you an early warning that prompts you to get medical attention before your heart actually fails and is damaged.

This may sound like something from Star Trek, but it actually describes the expected capabilities of a medical-tech product currently under development by a company called Corventis. Named PiiX (pronounced pie-ex), the gadget is a wireless, water-resistant sensor that you wear ...