Wrist flexible heart pulse sensor integrated with a soft pump and a pneumatic balloon membrane

To monitor health and diagnose disease in the early stage, future healthcare standards will likely include the continuous monitoring of various vital data. One approach to collect such information is a wearable and flexible device, which detects information from the skin surface. An important dataset is heart pulse information. Herein a method to monitor the detailed pulse signal from a wrist stably and reliably is proposed. Specifically, a soft pneumatic balloon operated by a soft pump applies the appropriate pressure over a tactile sensor onto the radial artery of the wrist to detect detailed heart pulse waves. The soft pump, pneumatic balloon, and flexible tactile pressure sensor are characterized as a fundamental study. Additionally, a proof-of-concept of this integrated device platform is demonstrated by monitoring the heart pulse from a wrist with and without the soft pump functions.