Cardiocam Mirror records your heart rate without any physical contact

Do you think your mirror knows it all? Probably the one hanging around in your bedroom doesn't but Cardiocam sure does know a bit about the health of your heart. Developed by the students of MIT Media Lab, this particular mirror is nothing less than a magical mirror. The mirror recently made its appearance at the SIGGRAPH 2011 Emerging Technologies program. The device records the heart rate of the person who stands in front of the mirror and displays it on the surface.

Cardiocam mirror

Thus, it informs you about your heart health whenever you stand in front of it. It breaks away from the conventional technologies, which require you to strap sensors, electrodes, or wires. You may wonder how the mirror detects the change in heart rate just by making you look at it. Well there's no complicated magic behind it. As your heart beats, the blood flow to the facial capillaries (very narrow blood vessels) increases and decreases with each beat. This change in the flow of blood to the facial capillaries affects the skin tone of your face and the mirror uses this information to record your heart rate. The mirror is fitted with a webcam to record images, which is then processed using computer imaging techniques and advanced signals. As the time goes by the Cardiocam mirror establishes a baseline resting heart rate for the user. This helps you to keep a tab on the health of your heart and also encourages you to adopt healthy habits. If you find something abnormal you can go for treatment at an early stage.

At present, the Cardiocam mirror is capable of recording only the heart rate, but this innovative technology could be used to do more in future. Mirror being a part of your daily regimen makes it an ideal device for managing health at home and also keep you away from wires and electrodes.

Via: LiveScience