A Hungarian ECG company puts real-time pulse on a business card
Adding something extra to one’s business card is important if you want to stand out from the crowd. This one, however, is the only card that lets you measure your heartbeat.MobilECG, an open-source electrocardiogram company, found a way to create business cards with small electrocardiograph meters built in.
Based in Hungary, MobilECG created a reader which finds a person’s heart rate by having them place two fingers on the card. The business information is located on the front of the card while the reader and tiny monitor screen are located on the back. It works by implementing what is known as Lead I in Einthoven’s triangle. To put it simply, in order for an electrocardiogram to read your heart rate, the readers have to form an inverted triangle with the heart in the middle so that the voltages when added up will have 0 potential, essentially giving the machine the most accurate result possible. Putting two fingers from opposite hands thus creates an Einthoven triangle, and your heartbeat is displayed.
The company has made it clear, however, that this is not meant to be a diagnostic device, referring to it on their website as a “toy card.” However, MobilECG’s main product is a small, more affordable ECG machine than the ones used now in hospitals and clinics. Currently in its second generation of design, the MobilECG itself costs between $100 – $150 and cause uses different points of data collection to give accurate readings.
MobilECG is taking orders, with each card currently set at $29 each. The team, dedicated to being open source, has also posted the schematics here if you want to build you own.
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