ARGONAUT: An Inclusive Design Process for Wearable Health Monitoring Systems

Wearable biosignal monitoring systems are becoming increasingly ubiquitous as tools for autonomous health monitoring and other real-world applications. Despite the continual advancements in this field, anthropometric considerations for women’s form are often overlooked in the design process, making systems ill fit and less effective. In this paper, we present a full garment assembly, ARGONAUT, with integrated textile electrocardiogram (ECG) electrodes in a 3-lead configuration that is designed specifically for women’s form. Through the exploration of materials, anthropometry, and garment assembly, we designed and tested ARGONAUT against the laboratory standard to determine performance through R-peak detection and noise interference. We investigated common issues faced when designing a wearable ECG garment, such as fit, motion artifact mitigation, and social wearability, to develop a dynamic design process that can be used to expand the advancing technology sensor integrated garments to all individuals in order to allow for equal access to potential health benefits.