SSI Showcases for Home & Entertainment

PROBLEM AND SOLUTION

Sport is one of the leading application in wearable devices and the fitness market is a battlefield where small and large actors are entering in a severe competition. Fitness clubs are constantly looking for differentiation and part of the solution relies in the activity trackers and connectivity.
Boxing and martial arts have become an inspiration for fitness clubs. The training methods of Boxing are now adapted to fitness and commercialized under names like bodycombat™ or BodyAttack™. The French SME Sportcom, selling Boxing equipment is receiving a strong traction from this business segment. The contribution of connectivity into this domain is a field that is worth to explore to enter this market with a strong differentiation.
The concept proposed to Sportcom is to integrate fitness and motion trackers in boxing gloves to develop a virtual coaching experience. Wireless Motion Unit Sensors integrated into the gloves supported by advanced algorithms will help to personalize the coaching, follow the performance and create a real community around that trend.
Thanks to the broad IP of CEA-LETI in gesture recognition, a demonstrator was designed that will bring a brand new approach in training. To support the Software development and industrialization of the solution, two additional companies are involved. Internet Force 5 will develop the App that will enable the user experience and 3 entrepreneurs and experts in Martial Arts have founded Moovlab to develop and commercialize a whole range of connected sporting goods dedicated to contact sport.

HOW DID GATEONE HELP?

Thanks to the gateone-project, a full value chain was put together to enable the digitization of the training in boxing and fitness boxing. Sportcom is an innovative company in its field but need the support of additional actors to enable these new electronics and software functionalities. LETI is the source for technology, and Moovlab will be a key player for the future industrialization of the product.
In a very short timeframe, LETI has developed a functional demonstrator integrated in the glove and it is now possible to demonstrate the concept to users and collect their feedback. This demonstrator is now the starting point for the minimum viable product development.

IMPACT

Thanks to the investment in the connected Boxing Glove demonstrator, Sportcom is now entering into the digitization era of Boxing and a new company Moovlab was created to act as an intermediate player to enable the productization of this concept. The first demonstration of the glove was performed by Moovlab during the IoT Planet tradeshow in Grenoble and the concept received a very strong feedback from visitors. The finalized demo will be showcased during the next CES event in Las Vegas.

SSI Advantages

• Extreme integration
• Ultra low power controller and NFC
• Large volume low cost production
• High reliability

Economic Impact

Poken is an example of a very successful product as well as start-up having more than 4 million attendees in 2016.

In addition, by preventing paper-based print products such as business cards and brochures resources can be saved and emissions reduced.

Cooperation / Funding

Transnational: Bilateral cooperation between Poken S.A., Switzerland, and NXP Semiconductors, The Netherlands.

National: The implementation of Poken was initially supported under the Swiss Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI) program followed by private funding.

Problem and solution

Every year, there are situations where mountain rescue team can’t locate people because of bad weather conditions or lack of information on the position of the victim. In some scenarii no GSM network is available and/or the Smartphone batteries quickly dry.

The SECURELOC, a patented concept from LETI, is using PMR radio frequencies (Walkie Talkie) in a point to point link. It becomes then possible to send GPS coordinate to a distance of 10km without the need of a network (white area). In GSM covered area thanks to a Bluetooth connection with the user smartphone, SECURELOC allow to transmit a distress message including the position.

There is also strong evolution of the ski practice towards Freeride or Ski Mountaineering with an increased number of skiers at risk. Alp’ride, a Swiss SME has developed an airbag system that maintains the skier on top of the snow slide.

In the frame of the gateone-project, the french research organisation and the Swiss SME have partner to integrate the SECURELOC concept into an avalanche airbag.  Whenever the airbag is inflated, GPS coordinates are sent both on the GSM network whenever it is available and PMR waves for a longer reach and extended operation time.

Watch demonstration video by clicking on the picture

How did GATEONE help

Alpride had already received customer requests for the addition of such feature to its existing products. However, the company did not disposed of the required know-how and resources to initiate such a development. The gateone-project offered the Swiss SME the opportunity to evaluate the SECURELOC technology from LETI in a European framework. The matchmaking has been performed thanks to the proactive action of the Project and the 2 organisations did not know each other before the Initiative.

Impact

The concept has been showcased to the Rescue teams and Alpride customers and received very positive feedbacks. The project successfully reached the gate 1 of the innovation cycle, and the partners are now in the final phase to build the product roadmap. This product will help the SME to increase its differentiation and position as a security supplier for mountain practice.

Problem and solution

The factory of the future is not only about robots : workers will also need to be connected in order to increase levels of quality, reactivity and product innovation.

With an average of 7 km per day with rigid security shoes, workers suffer pain in feet, knee and backbone. Demography also shows that Europe needs to be more concerned about older workers health with ergonomic and adapted solutions.

R’cup,  has a double value proposition, the French SME wants to improve the workers comfort while integrating the human being into the connected Manufacturing. The vision is to propose 3D printed morphologic and individualized smart insoles that will limit back pain and give a better comfort to workers. The combination of a morphologic insole with the potential of internet of things will decrease physical and cognitive fatigue while connecting the worker in its environment improving safety and productivity.

Energy management is one the biggest technical challenge in Rcup project, to be successful in the professional area, devices must be integrated into security equipment, such as shoes and they must provide benefit without the pain of charging or rebooting…. The solution is a 3D printed insole which only uses the kinetic moves to create the necessary power for the device to measure and transmit. In a holistic approach, CEA LETI has designed an energy harvester module and the low-power electronic architecture that will enable the various measurement features of a future product.

How did GATEONE help

The gateone-project performed the appropriate matchmaking between the SME need and the technology resource and created of framework of partnership between R’Cup and LETI that would not have been possible otherwise. R’cup brought the business vision and market expression of need and LETI brought the expertise in connected device and power management. The partnership with LETI has enabled a risk release on the first version of a battery free connected insole produced from the 3D printing competency of the SME. The Innovation action has enabled a proof of concept that has been designed in the lab, for the fab !

Impact

One of the strong impact is that this solution will be tested in the field with a world class leader industrial in the field of compressed gas. For the end customer it will bring value in health and security, and will deliver an impact in quality and productivity by augmented-lean manufacturing! The use case will be to gather contextualized facts about workers activity to optimize and prioritize modernization and to avoid any health or security issues. This demonstrator contributes to R’Cup differentiation and business development. Thanks to the Smart Anything Everywhere initiative, the smart insole will soon make its “first step” into the real world.