本次生工實習專題演講我們很榮幸邀請到Garmin的楊湧郎經理來為我們演講。楊經理為我們介紹Garmin產品一路以來的發展，起於車用導航的Garmin在面臨被逐漸普及的智慧型手機取代的困境後，基於先前的GPS技術背景，加上腕帶後發展出Forerunner 101，而後便開始了穿戴式裝置的發展。穿戴式設備可以監測運動強度、計算消耗的卡洛里或是測量最大攝氧量，感測端的原理以心律而言是仰賴PPG，與傳統的ECG和橡膠電極圈相比更容易使用，雖腕式量測的訊號微弱且可能有外在擾動，但藉由三軸加速度器、訊號處理等可濾除雜訊，成功放大目標訊號；此外心律監控更可進一步應用於呼吸頻率、壓力、睡眠狀態偵測等。而基於PPG，血氧飽和度（SpO2）也可被測得，可以檢測如高山症、睡眠呼吸中止症，還能藉由監控心律，及早發現心室顫動發生的可能性，使用者可進一步依循指示前往醫院做進一步檢查，達到協助預防醫學的成效。最後，楊經理也跟我們分享了穿戴式裝置的發展性以及關於這個產業所需要的人才，涉及光電、生醫、醫工等，跨領域整合能力尤為重要。
撰寫者：大學部林大衛
We are delighted to invite manager Crete Yang from Garmin to share about the technical principles laying behind wearable devices. Garmin began as a company that develops GPS and navigation systems. Their products were popular for a while, and were widely used during the gulf war amongst the military. However, in 2007, Apple launched their first iPhone, which contains a built-in GPS, and the stocks of Garmin began to drop since then. Garmin made their first smart watch in 2003 that contains an in sized mobile GPS called the forerunner, which was targeted to be for runners. Ever since the launch of the iPhone, they’ve shifted their focus from developing GPS into developing more smart wearables. Now, they not only have running watches, but they also have nine different types of smart watches that can suit different needs. The main technology behind Garmin’s smart watches are optics. They were able to use optics to obtain information of a person’s heart rate and the oxygen saturation in blood. These two pieces of information are very important as it is the basis of preventive healthcare. With the information of the heart rate, we can know our calorie consumption and monitor our exercise intensity. This can help us to develop the most effective, personal, healthy diet plan for ourselves. It can also make us aware of our stress levels, sleep quality, respiration, etc. Informations of the oxygen saturation in blood, on the other hand, can help us prevent altitude sickness, silent hypoxia, and sleep apnea. The importance of preventive healthcare is rising as people’s wants to live a longer and healthy life increase. With these smart wearables, we can easily obtain our daily health information, watch out for odd datas, and consult a doctor about it before it’s too late.
Author: Bachelor student, Diego Nicolas Marecos Britez.