As I pondered the future of the product, it struck me this weekend that I have not taken enough time, even with friends, family, and a smattering of early users of the MOxy Muscle Oxygen device, to explain what a MOxy Muscle Oxygen sensor is measuring. To achieve this, I have to take a little risk in pushing some of you beyond your technical understanding of the physics of how light propagates through tissue (travels through, gets absorbed, scatters). This is fundamental to how the device works. I have also mixed in a little physiology for those with an interest.
So, take yourself back to a time when you were on a camping trip, and, in the dark, you held a flashlight with your hand over the light. The characteristic I am talking about in this blog is the one you observed when you saw only "red" light coming through the other side of your hand.
The first big step is to understand that your blood is the carrier of many things for your body to use, and it carries away waste products as well. In the case of Oxygen supply, vital to your muscles and all tissue, the blood component that carries it through the body is called Hemoglobin.
The next big step is to understand that hemoglobin changes in "color" depending on just what it happens to be carrying. If it carries Oxygen, it is a different "color" than if it were carrying Carbon Dioxide, or simply carrying nothing at all.
That, finally, is where the MOxy Muscle Oxygen sensor comes into the picture. By shining 4 different wavelengths of light, or "colors", into the muscle, and measuring the amount of each color of light that is returned, the MOxy sensor can accurately and instanteously determine how much Oxygen is in the muscle. The ratio of the absorption of these colors tells the on-board computer precisely the amount of Oxygen available in the muscle.
So that's how the technology works. It isn't quite as simple as that, but it's close enough to generate at least an appreciation for what the sensor is doing.
The next area of focus is what I will call the "so what" factor, or "Why would someone need to know this information?".
The answer can be quite varied. Medical applications have honed in on assessing patient status, even going as far as to predict when a patient is going to go into Shock.
The MOxy Muscle Oxygen device, however, is focused primary on health and fitness applications. The team at Fortiori Design (inventors of the MOxy Muscle Oxygen Sensor) are working with fitness trainers from around the country, testing the device under a variety of conditions. So far the response has been overwhelming.
The next step for the Fortiori team is to get their wireless prototype developed and in the hands of its early users for further testing. These systems will be available mid-Summer, with a planned "commercial" device by the Fall.
Here's a flyer that our U of MN team created this year. It's not our "official" marketing brochure, but it's still pretty cool stuff, and it gives you an idea of what the device (currently) looks like. They also have created a promotional video, as a part of their final presentation, that can be seen on our website at www.fortiorides.com . Check it out if you can.
Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment