Wearable electric potential sensing: a new modality sensing hair touch and restless leg movement

Electric potential sensors (EPS) are classified as capacitive sensors with the ability to measure small variations in electric potential or electric field remotely and accurately. Here we show how a low cost single chip version of EPS can be integrated into a wearable device such as smart watch to provide relevant information about habitual movements specifically, hair touching and scratching as well as leg movement. This new modality could be used in consumer care product research such as studying the quality of shampoos and to study restless leg syndrome remotely without the need of wearing additional sensors. In both scenarios, a single sensor was worn on the wrist, similar to a smart watch, with the sensing electrode pointing away from the body (i.e. no skin contact).