The Australian military have just placed an order for hundreds and if the recent rugby season in Australia is anything to go by the BlackBox Biometrics product released at CES could be in big demand by active sports players.
Concussion is deadly and athletes, coaches and parents are looking for ways to prevent what can be devastating head injuries.
BlackBox Biometrics has officially unveiled the Linx Impact Assessment System (IAS), an app-enabled wearable sensor that tracks head injuries and impacts in real time.
According to Company officals several Australian NRL clubs have expressed an interest in the product.
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The Linx IAS, which is about the size of a USB stick and is worn inside a headband that can be worn on its own or under a helmet. It’s equipped with an accelerometer and a gyroscope, and connects to a smartphone or tablet app via bluetooth.
The app allows coaches and trainers as well as concerned parents to monitor head injuries in real time from the sidelines. When an impact occurs, the sensor sends an alert to the app – it has a range up to 200 metres – with a color-coded notification of the potential injury and severity of the impact.
Green indicates a minor hit, yellow moderate and red severe.
The app also tracks the buildup of all sustained impacts over time, and all its data can be shared with medical professionals after the game.
The company first developed its concussion detection technology for the military and law enforcement before creating the Linx IAS. What sets it apart from other concussion management products, BlackBox Biometrics CEO Rick Spotts told Mashable, is that the sensor sits on top of the skull, rather than embedded in a helmet. This allows the sensor to track the severity of the impact with better accuracy.
Black Box Biometrics are looking for a distributor in Australia.
