says Alexander Gruentzig, pointing at a mannequin with a screwdriver handle sticking out of its right shoulder. The founder of the Boston-area startup Legionarius stabbed Bob to demonstrate the abilities of a camouflage uniform shirt it’s wearing that contains a lightweight sensor layer developed by his company. The “smart shirt” has sent an alert to a tactical smartphone that shows the area of the wound, Bob’s vital signs and location.
The coronavirus pandemic served as an accelerant. In 2020, the Defense Innovation Unit distributed thousands of Garmin smart wristwatches and Oura finger rings to track service members’ temperature, pulse and blood oxygen levels and found that it could predict Covid-19 cases with 73% accuracy.
The data also encourages officers to engage more with their soldiers and “become more caring,” says Patterson, “more human.” Dubbed the Health Readiness And Performance System , it’s been trialed to prevent heat injuries in training by Army Rangers at Fort Benning, Georgia, and with U.S. Special Forces. It’s on track to be the first wearable to transition to wider distribution through the Army’s Program Executive Office Soldier, which accelerates development of equipment, Harner says.
The marching orders from the Army program manager: “I want you guys to go for a Nobel as well as a brand new wearable,” Cherukuri says. They’ve mocked up a Mark 1 version that’s double the target weight of three pounds. Cherukuri says among the hard parts at this point are building the smarts to interpret sensor information and figuring out how to equip the helmet with enough power.