Indian origin researcher finds clothes can sense illness

NEW YORK: What if clothes and other wearable items can sense your illness and transmit data to a doctor in a distant clinic for monitoring your health and prescribing drugs? This could be possible, thanks to new research by an Indian-origin scientist at University of Rhode Island.

Kunal Mankodiya, Director of the university’s Wearable Biosensing Laboratory is researching how to transform gloves, socks, clothing and even shoes into high-tech items that will make people healthier — and improve their lives. “We are in the era of game-changing technology, especially in health care,” Mankodiya said. Mankodiya’s research focuses on smart textiles — wearable items embedded with sensors, electronics and software that can collect data from patients, even though they are at home, and deliver it to doctors.