Recently, "tattoo" electrodes have been developed to stick on the skin, used to measure ECG, among other biosignals. But now researchers are beginning to adapt these electrodes to the area where they are most expected: non-invasive EEGs. Although we are several years from the start of the actual implementation of this technology, its advance is going by leaps and bounds and will greatly boost the entire non-invasive Neurotech area, and with it the entire biosignal recognition market.

Francesco Greco together with researchers from the Graz University of Technology in Austria are in charge of the project.

"Researchers have developed ultralight tattoo electrodes that are barely noticeable on the skin"

Even small hairs could grow over these electrodes without affecting their function.

A very interesting fact is its complete safety to use with MEG (magnetoencephalography) since the use of EEG during this study is very limited today, due to the type of electrodes that must be used.

But not everything is rosy, there are still many challenges to overcome. One of them is the complexity of brain waves compared to other, simpler biosignals:

"Brain waves are in the low frequency range and the EEG signals are very low in amplitude. They are much more difficult to capture in high quality than EMG or ECG signals."

Among other things, it also adds its poor compatibility with very hairy areas of the scalp, essential to capture certain topographies.

Much remains to be improved and validated, but it seems that the future is promising for EEG tattoos or "Tatteeg".

Perhaps in 10 years you will be scrolling through articles like this with your mind, without even feeling the electrodes on your scalp…

Federico Romano – Co-founder Director – Naxon Labs.