A breathalyzer company called BACtrack won $200,000 in a U.S. government-sponsored competition with an alcohol monitoring device that can be worn on the wrist called “Skyn”. Previously, we featured their “Trace Professional” breathalyzer and their keychain breathalyzer for smartphones, but, according to the company, Skyn is the “world’s first wearable alcohol monitor”.
BACtrack claims to be “the leader in breathalyzers, offering a full range of innovative breath alcohol testers for both personal and professional use”. The company collected the top prize in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Wearable Biosensor Challenge with its wristband monitor, which measures blood alcohol levels via sweat on the skin.
Here’s BACtrack’s video of how many drinks it takes for a 300-pound NFL offensive lineman to get 0.08 blood alcohol content versus a 100-pound woman.
…and here’s BACtrack breathalyzing fans at Super Bowl 50.
Here’s BACtrack president Keith Nothacker (which sounds like a fake name hackers use to disguise their identity) talking about the reason behind Skyn’s creation:
“The blood alcohol monitoring devices used in legal and medical circles are big and bulky, like a ball and chain for the ones using it. We wanted to make something people would want to wear.”
According to VentureBeat, traditional portable breath alcohol testers (PBTs) can cost more than $1,000. It should be noted the device doesn’t provide real-time blood-alcohol levels. It takes about 45 minutes for ethanol to be transmitted through the skin, so law enforcement officials won’t be using it.
BACtrack projects Skyn to hit the market by the end of 2016. We think it would make a great complement to Pornhub’s “Wankband“, the Fitbit For Your Penis, and the alarm clock taser.
Via VentureBeat, BACtrack