Q Sensor From Affectiva Lets You Track Stress Levels

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Oh, sure, some of you will say: like I need a bracelet to know when I’m feeling stressed out?  Being stressed out is a way of life for me! And of course, you don’t need a bracelet to tell when you’re stressed out…but stress is a lot like thirst. By the time you actually feel thirsty, you’re already starting down the road to dehydration. And the Q Sensor monitoring bracelet wants to give you a better idea of how stressed you are at any given time, not just when you’re feeling it.

It’s hard to believe, but the Q Sensor comes from Affectiva, which is a spinoff of MIT’s Media Lab. It works about the same way a polygraph device does, detecting electrical changes in the skin (sometimes called galvanic skin responses), based on their change in mood.

When you’re having severe emotional changes–either happy or sad, excited or worried–moisture starts building up under the skin. That generally leads to sweating, but it also makes your skin more electrically conductive (obviously, wet surfaces conduct electricity better than dry). The Q Sensor measures this conductivity which in turn gives you an idea of just how stressed out you are, whether you’re actually sweating or just getting ready to start.

Affectiva, for its part, looks to use the devices for medical purposes, especially for caregivers who will be able to tell at a glance just how stressed out their charges happen to be. In turn, they can use this information to start trying to calm their charges down before outbursts–potentially violent ones, especially–even happen.

The Q Sensor does have some limitations: it can’t tell just how stressed you are, or whether you’re happily excited or potentially enraged, but it can collect other information like body temperature and motion, things that can also add a note of valuable information in determining whether someone’s dangerously stressed, and the data itself can be transmitted via USB port to other connections.

Q Sensors will sell for $2000 a unit to start with, starting next month in a trial version.