Kickstarter target smashed by wearable lactate threshold sensor, BSX Insight

US-made device promises needle-free detection of your 'athletic horsepower', along with heart-rate monitoring, cadence and more

Published: April 10, 2014 at 9:14 am

A new wearable fitness sensor developed by US medical students which promises to detect an athlete's lactate threshold in real-time has smashed its Kickstarter target.

Instead of the needles used by current lactate threshold tests, BSX Insight integrates a light-based sensor to monitor exactly how hard an athlete's muscles are working compared to how hard they should be working, and can be paired with a sports watch via ANT+ or Bluetooth 4.0 for real-time feedback.

The developers came up with the idea while finishing medical school in Houston, Texas, and set themselves a Kickstarter target of $50,000 to bring the device into mass production and build the software that will allow it to communicate with current devices.

With over 24hrs still to go until the Kickstarter campaign finishes, the device has raised more than $100,000 from around 500 backers, and the developers expect it to enter mass production this September ready for sale by Christmas.

Would you be interested in using a wearable lactate threshold sensor? Let us know in the comments below!