This Forearm Band Can Keep Wear's Hands Warm Without Them Wearing Gloves

Scientists are looking into the possibility of a new tech that can keep soldiers’ hands warm in cold weather even without gloves.

The device they made is a band that soldiers can wear around their forearms. It draws power from a small battery.

The band is developed by a research physiologist of the US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine named John Castellani. It will radiate heat into the wearer’s forearms so that their blood vessels do not contract in the cold weather.

The result is promising as the band manages to keep the wearers’ motor function working properly. Castellani said that for soldiers to do their job, they needed to be in comfort.

When a person is in a region with cold weather, their vessels will contract to maintain the temperature of the body by sending blood deeper into his or her core organs or muscle tissue.

Soldiers can keep their hands warm by wearing gloves but doing so might risk hindering their movements.

In a test, Castellani’s team compared how good people in a cold room are in putting small pegs into a pegboard. The room’s temperature is around 33°Fahrenheit, just above the freezing point.

The result is those wearing the band were able to maintain 50% more hand dexterity than those who did not. The finger strength is also 90% stronger.

The experts are developing another model that can handle four hours of heat. And when they are able to realize that ambition, the tech will be deployed to personnel on the field. The whole process is expected to take from two to three years.

After that, the next step is to make it available to the general public.