Pivoting to the pandemic, IoT engineers create wearables to stop COVID’s spread

A wristband that tells kids when they’re too close together at school. A wearable that detects a possible COVID infection before you feel sick. Even a mask that cleans the air around you. These real-life smart devices emerged when students and professors at the University of Florida’s Warren B. Nelms Institute for the Connected World turned their ingenuity in the Internet of Things to solutions for the pandemic. More at UF NEWS

This wristband vibrates if you break social distancing rules

Students and professors at the University of Florida have developed three new wearable devices to help monitor, detect, and mitigate COVID-19, including a wristband that vibrates if someone gets too close.

Announced by the university on Monday, the gadgets also include a face mask that reduces the amount of virus in the air and another wristband that continuously monitors user temperature to detect possible COVID-19 infection. The devices were invented to help collect critical health data that can be used to alert wearers of potential exposure or infection, University of Florida professor Swarup Bhunia told EdScoop. More at EdScoop

Fighting COVID-19 with wearables

Researchers from the University of Florida (UF) have created a line of wearable smart devices designed to help healthcare workers and consumers mitigate the risk of being infected by COVID-19.

While the devices are only in the prototype phase, they could potentially help slow the spread of the disease or future respiratory illness. More at Electronics360