We saw numerous new tech innovations at the Consumer Electronics Show this year. Ranging from smart home tech announcements to new robots and game-changing tech, CES 2020 had almost everything to offer. While most of the major announcements stole the limelight, there were many whacky innovations by European companies worth noticing that flew under the radar.
These whacky innovations stand apart from the crowd with either the idea they present or the way they are being executed. Fifty Dutch startups also showed off their offerings at the tech show. Here are the top five whacky tech startups from CES 2020, which you need to know about.
One of the most advanced smartwatches is here!
Most smartwatches offer health tracking features to a certain extent but at CES 2020, The Issy-les-Moulineaux, France, headquartered Withings announced ScanWatch. The latest hybrid smartwatch by Withings is claimed to be the world’s first clinically validated hybrid smartwatch capable of detecting sleep apnoea and arrhythmia (AFib). Equipped with a circular PMOLED display, the smartwatch pairs over BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) standard that consumes less power.
The watch comes with a multi-wavelength PPG heart sensor to take heart rate and rhythm measurements and is also equipped with a SpO2 sensor to detect oxygen saturation level and in turn, enable detection of sleep apnoea. It won’t be incorrect to say that the Withings ScanWatch is one of the most advanced smartwatches out there.
Is this the future of surgery?
Dutch manufacturer of microsurgery robotic equipment Microsure showed off its new MUSA robot at CES 2020. The surgical robot is designed especially to perform open microsurgery and it provides surgeons with micro-level motion scaling, eliminates shakiness or tremors, along with boosted dexterity. Touted to be capable of connecting vessels as small as 0.3 mm, the robot can be integrated with Zeiss’s Tivato 700 visualization system. The surgical robot can be employed for free flap surgery, hand surgery, lymphatic surgery, and a number of other procedures.
This smart bath mat can do more than most smart scales
Bathrooms are getting smarter with smart speakers, smart mirrors and multiple other smart devices. Smart weighing scales have been around for a long time but now the France based startup Mateo is changing the game with the Mateo bath mat. The Mateo bath mat features a washable cloth cover and packs a number of features like measuring your weight, identifying users by their footprint, a medical-grade 7,000-dot pressure mapping system for detecting posture, and more.
This reading lamp is designed to help dyslexic people
While not much is known about how people with dyslexic are affected, thanks to a research conducted in France, it is suggested that the condition occurs when someone has two dominant eyes, rather than the usual one. As a result, letters can appear blurred, mashed or mirrored, making it difficult to read. France-based Lexilife has come up with an innovative solution called Lexilight lamp.
Showcased at CES 2020, Lexilight lamp goes around the problem of indecipherable words with the help of LEDs, which pulse at a set frequency. This pulsing light is said to enable dyslexic people to process information from a single “dominant” eye by clearing up mashed-together letters instantly. The light pulse frequency is also adjustable with the help of a knob on the back of the light.
Give your cats the love they deserve
France-based NovandSat demoed Caremitou, a ‘connected’ litter box for cats. It is the first e-health animal litter box that is also capable of urine analysis. The smart litter box can not only weight your cat, but also records how many times it was used and can collect urine samples as well. With in-house testing options, the Caremitou can detect and follow diseases in pets such as diabetes, kidney failure, and liver problems.
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