It is inevitable that sitting down in front of the television will result in an unintended nap after a hearty dinner.
If you've ever sat down to watch a program on TV only to wake up as the closing credits are rolling, there's a new wearable device in which you may be interested. Kipstr makes sure you don't miss your show by dozing off. The wristband recognizes if you fall asleep, and starts recording.
Kipstr was created by Manchester Creative Studio students Ryan Oliver and Jonathan Kingsley, who are 15 and 14 years old respectively. They are both students at the Manchester Creative Studio that approached by Virgin Media when presenting their device at a start-up event.
The gadget, which takes the wearer's pulse to detect when they are asleep and takes over the remote to pause or record programmes. It has been taken up by Virgin Media to work via Wi-Fi with its TiVo television boxes.
The device uses a pulse-oximeter to monitor the wearer's heart rate while they are watching TV. When its spark core chip detects that the wearer's heart rate has fallen, it communicates with their TiVo box to begin recording the remainder of the program that is being watched.
The Kipstr can also be used to trigger the program to start playing again when it detects that the wearer has woken up.
According to Virgin Media, Polyjet was used as it is more robust than the "rigid plastics used by most 3D printers."
It is suggested that the Kipstr could be used for monitoring the emotional responses of users to different TV programs, tagging the programs appropriately for future reference.
Meanwhile, it also could be used to control other devices in the home when the wearer falls asleep, such as turning off lights or the heating to save money.
