Verily Life Sciences, the medical arm of Google parent Alphabet (NSDQ:GOOGL), today unveiled its Study Watch, a wearable device designed to passively capture health data.
The watch, intended to create a method of unobtrusive biosensing, is equipped with multiple sensors, including an electrocardiogram, and can monitor heart rate, electrodermal activity and inertial movements, with a battery life of up to 1 week.
Verily said that the device itself comes with a large internal storage, with data compression included, to allow it to store up to a week’s worth of raw data and lower the need for frequent syncs. An onboard processor will support real-time algorithms on the device, the company said, with the device’s firmware updated to receive new updates, algorithms and upgrades to its user interface.
The display of the watch is always shown, the company said, and instructions can also be displayed on the face. All data collected on the device are encrypted for security, Verily added, and are uploaded through a cloud service using the company’s backend algorithm and machine learning tools.
The Study Watch is slated to be used in several observational studies including a Parkinson’s study, and a longitudinal study examining transitions between health and disease, according to a company press release.
In January, Verily said that Singapore-based investment company Temasek invested $800 million as part of a partnership deal.
As part of the deal, Temasek will gain a minority stake in the company. The majority of the investment will be funded in the coming days, while the remainder of the investment is scheduled for the 2nd half of 2017. As part of the investment and partnership, Temasek will nominate a director to Verily’s board.