Pillows that suppress snoring, urine-testing toilets and “digital twins” for safer surgeries were on display Tuesday ahead of the consumer electronics extravaganza’s opening at a CES Gadget Fest in Las Vegas.
Fueled by the pandemic, a rising trend in innovations for distance or home healthcare is expected to be one of the main topics at the annual CES gathering.
“We’re going to see some really interesting health devices that monitor or improve your well-being,” Techsponential technology analyst Avi Greengart said of the show.
Snoring Pillow
South Korea-based company 10Minds showed off a pillow with a built-in microphone that detects snoring and then deploys silent airbags that resize to gently rotate a sleeper’s head into a position that facilitates quiet breathing.
“If you start snoring, it will be detected immediately,” company representative Daehyun Kim told AFP at the CES Unveiled event.
“It even differentiates your snoring from your dog’s snoring or your spouse’s snoring.”
The pillow, which syncs with a smartphone app, collects data that is analyzed to identify snoring patterns and improve its response over time, Kim added.
“It’s (a) very simple fix,” Kim said.
The toilet became a laboratory
Digital health and wellness company Withings unveiled a U-Scan device at Unveiled that allows people to analyze their urine by peeing normally in a toilet.
A disk hanging in a toilet bowl can hold interchangeable cartridges, one monitoring a woman’s menstrual cycle and another measuring nutritional health indicators like vitamin C and ketone levels.
“It helps people monitor their metabolic intake to optimize their daily hydration and nutritional intake,” the French company said in a press release.
“It recommends workouts, nutritional suggestions, and recipes to help you achieve set goals.”
The toilet device syncs wirelessly with a smartphone app.
According to the company, U-Scan can even distinguish between different users based on “a person’s urine stream signature”.
Withings will launch U-Scan in Europe in the second quarter of this year, priced at €500 for a starter kit.
It will not be available in the United States until approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.
digital twin
France-based company Abys demonstrated technology that allows surgeons to create “digital twins” of patients using data from X-rays and other standard medical scans.
Surgeons can then plan an operation accurately, reducing the time and risk involved, company co-founder Arnaud Destainville told AFP.
In operating rooms, surgeons can use Microsoft HoloLens mixed-reality headsets to access a patient’s “twin” hologram and other data while they work, Destainville said.
“All of the planning, all of the information will become available during the operation,” Destainville said.
US regulators approved the Abys innovation last week, according to the co-founder.
Armchair masseuse
South Korean company Bodyfriend is targeting neck and back pain caused by hunched over screens.
Billed as a medical device, a Bodyfriend massage chair kneads muscles, applies heat, and even pulses electromagnetic waves to relieve pain.
“Our technology helps solve problems caused by technology,” because spending time in front of the phone and other screens can cause back problems, said Changjoo Kim, manager of Bodyfriend North America.
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