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Wearable drone wins first Intel make It Wearable contest

Monday, 24. November 2014 - 18:48

Intel on Monday awarded Nixie the $500,000 grand prize in its inaugural Make It Wearable competition, singling out the startup's wearable drone which can detach from your wrist and take photos and video. Nixie is worn like a watch but unfolds its four copter arms on cue, taking flight and snapping photos from "unique perspectives," Intel said. Nixie's Jelena Jovanovic said the wearable could be sent off to snap a photo then return to the wrist in "boomerang" mode, or else set to "follow me" mode for a longer shooting session.

Once Nixie returns to a user's wrist, it automatically syncs with a mobile device to upload any images its captured. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich described the first Make It Wearable contest as an "experiment" but promised to hold the competition again in 2015. Some 500 wearable tech developers applied to the contest, which Intel announced at last year's Consumer Electronics Show.

All of the entries in the competition utilized Intel's Edison platform, powered by the chip giant's ultra-low power lineup of Quark processors. Krzanich and a panel of expert judges winnowed the number of entrants down to 40 semi-finalists, and then pared that list down to the ten finalists who were feted at the W Hotel here on Monday. Below, Krzanich, judge Venus Williams, and the Nixie team celebrate the startup's win.

In addition to Nixie, Open Bionics won the $200,000 second prize for its 3D-printable robotic prosthetics for amputees, which the startup said could be produced for about $2,000, much less than the $100,000 customized robotic prosthetics can cost.

ProGlove was awarded $100,000 and third place for its sensor-stuffed wrist band and work glove combination for manufacturing settings. Blocks, which makes an open-platform, modular wearable kit for makers, won the Audience Favorite prize.

Other finalists in the competition included Snowcookie, a fitness monitor and coaching tool for skiers; Babyguard, a bellyband worn by expectant mothers which monitors their baby's activity; BabyBe, a device for simulating skin-to-skin bonding with premature babies; Wristify, a personal climate control wearable; First V1sion, a first-person camera designed to share athletes' point-of-view; and Arc Pendant, a wearable which alerts users of incoming updates via haptic vibrations.

Damon Poeter

Source: 
www.pcmag.com
Tags: 
drone
Intel
Make It Wearable
Nixie
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