The HKN Experience

Recent advances in miniature-sized microelectronics have created the opportunity to build ultra-small sensing & actuating devices that can be implanted inside or worn on the surface of the human body. Adding wireless communication capability to such devices allows the possibility of performing more complex functions by connecting multiple devices to each other or to the external IT infrastructure. This technology can be used to continuously gather and process a variety of important health or physiological data. It enables a revolutionary set of applications such as smart pills for precision drug delivery, assistive medical micro-robots, vision restoration, brain-machine interface, Neuro-prosthetics, etc. The need for human subject involvement, energy limitation and lack of interoperable infrastructure are among the many challenges that these new technologies are facing. In this talk, a brief review of the cutting-edge activities related to this area and a perspective on future challenges will be presented.