Kickbee Sends Baby Kick Updates Via Twitter
December 13, 2008 by Rico Mossesgeld
Filed under Wearables
Parental Twitter application: If you’re a dad like Corey Menscher, who unfortunately is “once-removed from the physical knowledge my wife has of our baby and its development” (geek speak for “I can’t get pregnant so I don’t know how it feels”), the Kickbee may satisfy your need to know what’s happening to junior in the womb—and satisfy your geeky need to get things done via technology.
Simply put, the Kickbee is a vest designed for pregnant women. Movement triggers integrated Piezo sensors positioned over a woman’s tummy. These send electronic pulses to an Arduino microcontroller that communicates with nearby software (in this case running on a MacBook Pro) via Bluetooth. Once the Java app determines that the movement represents an actual kick by the baby, it puts out an update via Twitter.
What kind of market would this gadget have? Let’s see first if Corey Menscher can turn his rough prototype into a fully-integrated wearable gadget, lacking the need to remain near a specific Bluetooth device.
(Image by Corey Menscher)
Phones with Java+Bluetooth+G3(GSM, GPRS, whatever) = bingo! Twitter on the way.
Ok but seriously a small device that connects to a sensing device on a person’s body. How about sending a message to the doctor (or nurse) when major contractions are detected, what about when abnormal heart beats are detected, or ….?
make it small, wearable and you have an all-day health monitoring device. Its like living life in a bubble.