{"id":3821,"date":"2025-11-25T18:49:25","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T18:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/11\/25\/ann-arbor-startup-arborsense-develops-watch-to-detect-alcohol\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T18:49:27","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T18:49:27","slug":"ann-arbor-startup-arborsense-develops-watch-to-detect-alcohol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/11\/25\/ann-arbor-startup-arborsense-develops-watch-to-detect-alcohol\/","title":{"rendered":"Ann Arbor startup Arborsense develops watch to detect alcohol"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/arborsense.com\">Arborsense<\/a>, an Ann Arbor-based health technology startup, has developed wrist-worn wearable devices that detect chemicals in human sweat in order to assist in 24\/7 alcohol monitoring for individuals in court-mandated and treatment settings. The device, Arborsense GRADE\u00ae, uses the wearer\u2019s perspiration to measure alcohol levels every five minutes. The results are then analyzed multiple times a day and sent to supervising agencies.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Arborsense was founded by University of Michigan alum Girish Kulkarni. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Kulkarni said the startup emerged from his electrical engineering doctorate research at the University. His work focused on the functional analysis of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/content\/article\/twenty-years-after-its-discovery-graphene-finally-living-hype\">graphene<\/a>, an integral compound to the function of the nanomaterial sensors used in the watch-like device.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just a single atom thick carbon sheet, so just because of its structure, it has these properties where it becomes very sensitive to the change in environment, which means that it can pick up chemicals,\u201d Kulkarni said. \u201cIt\u2019s a novel nanomaterial.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kulkarni said he began to explore potential uses for the technology after discovering that the sensor could detect a range of chemical compounds.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cSubstance use is one of the biggest public health crises,\u201d Kulkarni said. \u201cWe thought, \u2018We have these sensors \u2014 why not make devices that can help detect these compounds and help people monitor their own use?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arborsense\u2019s technology focuses on the detection of transdermal compounds, which are chemicals detected through sweat on the body.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven if you can\u2019t see it, your body is releasing small amounts of sweat,\u201d Kulkarni said. \u201cIf the sensors are sensitive enough, they can pick up chemicals through that sweat, and we can relate it to what\u2019s happening inside your body.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kulkarni said the external chemical sensors Arborsense uses allow for less invasive and more accessible testing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you have to test for any substance now, you either do blood, urine or saliva,\u201d he said. \u201cThose are invasive, they\u2019re expensive and they only give a single point in time. With our technology, you can monitor continuously and noninvasively.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>In an interview with The Daily, Emily Smith, a social worker on Michigan Medicine\u2019s inpatient addiction consult team, said continuous monitoring can provide clarity for patients trying to change their substance use.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt can be helpful to have that visual,\u201d Smith said. \u201c (It\u2019s) a tool to manage looking at \u2018How am I doing? Are my numbers changing? Has my effort to cut back or cut completely off been successful?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>LSA freshman Victor Monnier told The Daily he thinks Arborsense\u2019s technology can serve as an incentive for maintaining a healthy lifestyle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it can help increase accountability, especially if others have access,\u201d Monnier said. \u201cMore importantly, it can be motivating, as it will prove to people that they really are making progress.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jennifer Rankin, a peer recovery coach with lived experience in recovery, said some may gain motivation from seeing real-time patterns throughout their recovery process.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cSomeone might find it very helpful to track how much alcohol or substances they\u2019re consuming over time,\u201d Rankin said. \u201cA lot of us unfortunately go through the justice system when we\u2019re in active addiction for various reasons, and it could be a safety net.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>U-M alum Vaishnavi Potluri, who leads the development of the company\u2019s sweat-based drug detection device, told The Daily that staying aware of customers\u2019 needs was important during the design process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe talked to more than 100 people,\u201d Potluri said. \u201cYou can do as much research and development as you want, but if the users are not going to use it, there\u2019s no use of the product.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Potluri said listening to user input provided valuable insights during certain stages in the device\u2019s development.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe thought saliva testing was accurate,\u201d Potluri said. \u201cBut users told us it\u2019s not. People who use more drugs often don\u2019t produce much saliva, so it can take hours just to collect a sample. That really opened our eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-4    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>Potluri said a next step to improve the sensor\u2019s accuracy is refining results with data analytics and artificial intelligence to minimize false positives, which could incorrectly alert agencies of the wearer\u2019s drug use.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen it comes to detecting drugs, a false positive can affect someone\u2019s life,\u201d she said. \u201cIf AI can help us remove even that 0.01% error, it\u2019s worth it. It\u2019s not just about being accurate \u2014 it\u2019s about being safe.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Kulkarni said the company\u2019s measure of success is helping those struggling with substance abuse monitor their use in a more accessible way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur success is if we can make a positive impact on the lives of people suffering from substance use disorders,\u201d Kulkarni said. \u201cIf our devices make treatment more accountable, affordable and effective \u2014 that\u2019s how we define success.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kulkarni said starting the company in Ann Arbor was a deliberate choice that allows him to maintain close proximity to his roots.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-5    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cI think the startup ecosystem here is growing,\u201d Kulkarni said. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to go to Silicon Valley to build something meaningful. You can do it right here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Daily Staff Contributor Antoinette Lowy can be reached at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/news\/business\/ann-arbor-startup-arborsense-develops-wearable-technology-to-detect-alcohol-levels\/mailto:alowy@umich.edu\"><em>alowy@umich.edu<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arborsense, an Ann Arbor-based health technology startup, has developed wrist-worn wearable devices that detect chemicals in human sweat in order to assist in 24\/7 alcohol monitoring for individuals in court-mandated and treatment settings. The device, Arborsense GRADE\u00ae, uses the wearer\u2019s perspiration to measure alcohol levels every five minutes. The results are then analyzed multiple times [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[3781,242,243,3778,3780,3779,409,1825],"class_list":{"0":"post-3821","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-alcohol","9":"tag-ann","10":"tag-arbor","11":"tag-arborsense","12":"tag-detect","13":"tag-develops","14":"tag-startup","15":"tag-watch"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3821"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3823,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3821\/revisions\/3823"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}