The CES tech show in Las Vegas has been packed with health gadgets this year as technology continues to make huge advancements when it comes to helping consumers gain a better understanding of their general well-being.
Here’s our pick of the best on display.
Smart toilets from Withings
We had to begin with Withings’ «urine lab». This device provides an immediate snapshot of the body’s balance by monitoring and detecting a large variety of biomarkers found in urine.
The device is just 90 mm in diameter and sits inside most toilet bowls. Results are then delivered to a smartphone app, providing analysis and recommendations based on the data.
The company says it’s planning two different consumer products; one targeted towards hospitals and other healthcare settings, the other for consumers.
«Urine actually has over 3,000 metabolites. So, a wealth of information that today typically is not used very much because it’s very difficult,» Elizabeth Coleon from Withings told the Associated Press.
«Most people do not like to go and have a urinalysis. Typically, people will go once a year instead of being able to have that information tested over a regular basis and be given the longitudinal data, which can give much more insights to improve health,» she added.
Healthy selfies by Caducy
Caducy, a device created by another French company called i-Virtual, measures health data in a different way.
Thanks to a 30-second video selfie, an analysis is conducted in the cloud with AI and deep learning algorithms, including computer vision and signal processing.
Then the app gives info including heart rate, respiratory rate, and stress level — a way to conduct remote consultations, according to the company.
«So, what we are looking, we are looking the skin of the face,» said Gael Constancin, founder and CEO of i-Virtual.
«And with what we see, we see the blood moving through the skin. So, it’s signal analysis. We measure the purest wave from by signal analysis directly on the face of the person and the respiratory rate, we just look at the chest and we count, we count the movement».
Exoskeleton suits from German Bionic
Judging from what we’ve seen at CES this week, another tech that might help us in the future is exoskeletons.
With more and more items being shipped across the globe, it’s a strain for warehouse workers whose jobs require heavy lifting.
It’s a problem that German Bionic is working to fix with the Apogee exoskeleton suit.
The Apogee, the 6th iteration of the product, is a lighter and stronger version and assists the user to more easily lift items up to 30 kg.
«So, the product is an active lifting exoskeleton, all powered by a single 40 volt battery. And essentially what it does as you bend over it knows your relative position to the ground,» said David Mack from German Bionic.
«So, when you start to stand up again, it will sense those movements and pull you back up, compensating for almost 30kgs of lifting force».
Hello Aeo
Another robot on the show floor is Aeo, a new robot on a mission to clean. It’s a busy life, but it has still found time to snap a few selfies with visitors — including Euronews Next deputy editor Natalie Huet.
The multi-talented robot can be used for delivery and patrol services currently deployed in Japan, Hong Kong, and Taipei.
«We created Aeo as a multifunction robotic platform, so that we could do many, many use cases. And one example is UV disinfecting,» explains Dan Haddick from makers, Aeolus Robotics.
«We responded very quickly a couple of years ago during the pandemic and created this very unique solution that was very popular in elder care, hospital and public transit type facilities».
AI baby monitors from Chillax Care
Another gadget used to check in on humans (albeit only small ones) is Chillax Care, a baby monitor powered by AI.
The company says its app analyses microscopic movements while babies sleep in order to provide a high level of accuracy.
It can tell parents if their baby is sleeping on their stomach, or if there’s a breathing issue. Over time they will even be able to measure respiratory rate.
Jon Budgen from Chillax Care says the camera looks for several different features, «Head, neck, back, legs, and it determines if baby’s in a proper sleeping position to help prevent things such as SIDS. And the algorithm will learn over time what baby’s head looks like, when he or she’s on her back or on the stomach.
«If there is a compromising position, the baby sleeping in mom and dad will get alerted through our Chillax Care app and then they can come and make sure everything is okay with baby in the nursery».
