Wearable acts like a breathalyzer, measures alcohol levels using your skin

A new wearable from startup BACTrack is designed to monitor the alcohol levels in your body. Called BACTrack Skyn, this wearable makes use of fuel cell technology to measure the amount of alcohol in you. It makes use of similar technology law enforcement uses. But this doesn’t give a real-time readout since it takes around 45 minutes for alcohol consumed to be transmitted to your skin. But what it can detect is the recent drinking history of someone, which could be used by medical practitioners as well as researchers and even help people who are being treated for alcohol abuse. The Skyn connects to a smartphone app via Bluetooth, so it could also warn you if you’ve drank too much to drive or to send messages to family and friends if you’ve been trying to remain sober and alcohol is found in your system.

The Skyn won first place at a National Institutes of Health competition and won a US$200,000 grand prize. It hasn’t been tested or approved by the FDA yet but the company is already offering pre-orders for a limited release this fall.

Source: SlashGear