A group of researchers from Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s (HBKU) College of Science and Engineering have created a smart mask equipped with printed patches made of multi-sensory nanomaterial which can monitor in real time a range of physical health indicators with high accuracy.
“The smart mask, worn like the commonly used medical face masks, measures variables such as body temperature, respiration, humidity, as well as the rate of inhalation and exhalation,” college professor and associate dean Dr Amin Burmak told a programme on Qatar TV and Al Rayyan Satellite TV, local Arabic daily ‘Arrayah’ reported.
Explaining that the smart mask can also measure cough and other differences in breathing patterns, Dr Burmak observed that the measurement of humidity in a cough may indicate, for example, the possibility of a person being infected with Covid-19, as dry cough is a symptom.
“This Qatari innovation is effectively integrating artificial intelligence techniques into daily wearables,” he said, while recalling that the idea of the project began before the spread of Covid-19. “We developed the idea and fully implemented it through the brilliant minds in the Sensor Research Group,” Dr Burmak said, while adding that the innovation behind the smart mask is to print the sensors on textiles at a low cost and amplify the very low signal on a handheld device.
Prototype of a smart mask.
