Heart monitoring technology created to track the health of astronauts on deep space missions was modified by a company for use in physical fitness equipment. The technology made the company's equipment the first to use the heart rate as an exercise intensity control. Decades after the company's founding, its expansive equipment line remains popular, and the same heart-monitoring technology remains central to it.
In the mid-1970s, NASA needed a heart monitor whose signal wouldn't be distorted by the user's motion and didn't rely on paste that irritated the skin and eventually dried. Under a NASA grant, two university professors created a new type of electrocardiographic electrode that wasn't affected by the user's movements or by temperature, perspiration, or oily skin.
Learn more about how NASA helped develop technology that impacts heart rate monitors within your city's sports environment!