Scientists at the University of Maine developed a device that could serve as a platform for new innovation to ease the daily monitoring of food and beverage consumption for seniors and people with chronic medical conditions.
The SipBit, made by Nimesha Ranasinghe, an associate teacher of spatial figuring, and Chamath Amarasinghe, a Ph.D. understudy of spatial data science and design, can pinpoint drink type, volume, and sugar content once lowered in fluid. The gadget, prepared to perceive these qualities through a progression of profound learning calculations, can recognize them by utilizing electrical impedance estimations over a scope of frequencies of a beverage.
Electrical impedance is the resistance proposed to the electric flow—moving charged particles like electrons—by an item. A given arrangement of estimations of an electrical impedance relates to a specific drink quality, for example, whether it’s tea, espresso, or pop.
SipBit applies a known electric heartbeat across a great many frequencies and afterward gauges the impedances through the beverage, a strategy called electrical impedance spectroscopy. After gathering various arrangements of estimations, SipBit dissects them to recognize the physical and compound properties of a refreshment, especially what kind of drink it is and its volume and sugar content.
“Through electrical impedance, we can detect distinct beverage types and attributes based on different signatures, such as a cup of Pepsi vs a cup of Coca Cola,”
Chamath Amarasinghe, a Ph.D. student of spatial information science and engineering
Numerous seniors and individuals with severe weight control plans, including those who have malignant growth, heart and kidney illnesses, diabetes, and different circumstances, need to physically keep track of what they eat and drink every day to assist with saving their wellbeing, which Ranasinghe says can be dreary, tedious, and open to error. He and Amarasighe desire to upgrade the innovation in SipBit to recognize many more qualities, like sodium (i.e., salt), carbs, protein, and zest content, and record them on gadgets like PCs and cell phones to ease their weight. They then desire to furnish cutlery and drinkware that are furnished with SipBit.
“We’re beginning from this establishment,” Ranasinghe says. “Our following stage is to investigate various applications and make a savvy cup or tumbler where individuals can naturally keep their calorie consumption exhaustively and ongoing.”
By contrast, SipBit contrasts from other innovations intended to recognize different parts of food and refreshments by utilizing electrical impedance spectroscopy as opposed to examining pictures of what individuals eat and drink when feasting.
According to Amarasinghe and Ranasinghe, different devices have difficulty recognizing similar drinks and distinguishing their volume and other internal characteristics.For instance, they might battle to decide if an espresso was a dim or medium dish or how much the sugar content of the beverage was.
For instance, “Through electrical impedance, we can perceive different drink types and qualities in view of various marks; for instance, a cup of Pepsi versus a cup of Coca-Cola,” Amarasinghe says.
Ranasinghe’s examination basically centers around imitating culinary encounters by mimicking tastes, smells, and different faculties through multisensory expanded reality and different advancements. His creations have acquired grants and public praise. Some of his most famous gadgets incorporate the Virtual Mixed Drink, or Vocktail, Computerized Candy, and Virtual Lemonade.
According to Ranasinghe, SipBit expands on his previous research because having tactile innovation that can identify and gather information on various food or drink qualities will help in creating new gadgets to mimic those experiences.He says he eventually wants to create a virtual space where people all over the world can share simulated food and drinks.
“We can give new openings to human-food connections,” Ranasinghe says. “One drive I have is sorting out how we can add these neglected faculties — smell and taste — into our advances. SipBit is essential for a greater riddle of future human-computerized connections since, supposing that you need to integrate new faculties, you need to design innovation that can mimic them, sense them and gather information on them.
Provided by University of Maine
