Fitness bracelet, Amiigo, launched its crowdfunding campaign just a few days ago and has already successfully passed its $90,000 goal. On January 20, 2013 backers had pledged $143,184 in support of the project through Indiegogo’s website. Amiigo’s Abe Carter mentioned at the start of their crowdfunding campaign that “We’ve had a lot of interest so far!” and it proved true.
Strong interest in the project comes form the many features of the fitness device. Amiigo’s shoe clip and water proof bracelet can tell users what type of exercise they are doing and also count golf swings, bicep curls and keeps track of skin temperature, blood oxygen levels, heart rate, calories burned as well as activity level. The fitness bracelet performs all these functions with the help of its gesture-based software algorithms and sensors in the hardware.
The developers behind Amiigo were initially looking to start the crowdfunding campaign of this bracelet in October last year, but then postponed the launch in order to improve the technical aspects of the fitness device and to conduct the funding round in a more traditional manner. This delay has luckily worked in Amiigo’s favor as the project successfully surpassed its funding goal within a week after the launch of its crowdfunding campaign because of the enhanced capabilities added from the extra development time.
As Carter said that the system can now distinguish “very subtle differences” in exercise sessions. He told TechCrunch, “To say not only that you are ‘running on the treadmill’ as opposed to ‘the elliptical’, but also that your running is faster today, or choppier or less consistent. This principle holds true with all exercises”.
“We’re building a feature where the user can actually record different types of running in a practice session, and then see how/where those are turning up during competition or performance. Additionally, by using activity recognition data from friends and/or standardized references, a user can get feedback on how closely his/her ‘run’ resembles that of a friend or some professional athlete. It can be used as a powerful learning tool.”
He also added that, “Amiigo will provide the initial reference database (full of well over 100 commonly performed exercises) and the recognition system to identify the activities, but it’s the users who have the ability to take it to the next level. That is one of the things we’re most excited about!”
Source: TheDroidGuy, TechCrunch, Cent
Photo: Technabob
Gamboo Is a Super Powered Game Boy That Plays A Lot More Than NES Games
Samsung and Apple Leading Smartphone Race
Lunches So Good Kids Can’t Ignore Them
Invigorating Ginger Smoothie
The U.K.’s Youngest Parents Ever
The new hair Jennifer Lawrence