WAGT: An artificial throat that’s small like a temporary tattoo
Researchers in China have recently developed a tiny device named “WAGT” (the abbreviation of “wearable artificial graphene throat”) that could improve the lives of many mute people.
Tiny like a temporary tattoo
The team, which is comprised of scientists from the Beijing National Research Center for Information Science and Technology (BNRist) and Tsinghua University, has developed a new wearable artificial throat. When attached to the neck (e.g. like a temporary tattoo), such can transform throat movements into sounds.
Detectors that measure movements on human skin, such as pulse or heartbeat do exist. However, the devices typically cannot convert these motions into sounds. He Tian, Yi Yang, Tian-Ling Ren and colleagues developed an artificial throat prototype possessing both capabilities, yet because the device needed to be taped to the skin, it was not comfortable to wear for extended periods of time. Therefore, the researchers wanted to develop a thinner, skin-like artificial throat that would smoothly integrate the neck like a temporary tattoo.
The mighty graphene
In order to conceive their artificial throat, the researchers “laser-scribed” graphene (a strong and highly conductive material) on a thin…
