Google's advanced research division – called Google X – revealed Tuesday that a health-tracking wristband is in the works.
Although the device contains all the bells and whistles highly sought after in wearable trackers, such as pulse measuring, heart rhythm and skin temperature tracking, it won't be marketed as a consumer product, according to Bloomberg.
The band, which also quantifies environmental factors such as light exposure and noise levels, could be used in clinical trials, drug tests or as a doctor-to-patient communication and tracking tool.
"Our intended use is for this to become a medical device that's prescribed to patients or used for clinical trials," Andy Conrad, head of the life sciences team at Google, told Bloomberg in a telephone interview.
He also told them he envisions one such tool as a device for healthy people that catches problems at their very earliest.
Testing the band's effectiveness on patients would start this summer, according to Google spokeswoman Jacquelyn Miller.
The Google X laboratory takes on projects including driverless cars and delivery drones, while in the health domain they have developed a contact lens equipped with a microchip that reads the blood sugar levels of diabetics.
