TransTech Top Ten at CES 2021
The annual Consumer Electronics Show, which draws close to 200,000 attendees, went virtual for the first time in January of 2021. The show has come a long way from its origins selling televisions, and TransTech applications and technologies recently have been carving out a niche at the show. Here are the top ten products that I harvested out of 3 days of Zoom overdose (actually their platform was Microsoft technology, including Teams, and didn’t work too badly.) Not just out of loyalty, I would say CES attention to TransTech lags well behind the TransTech Conference itself with its unique vision, but CES is definitely a bellwether for commercial growth of the TransTech sectors.
In terms of overall trends at CES, COVID was top-of-mind, with many companies offering COVID detection via temperature scans, and usually with some adjacent feature such as building it into automated building access controls. The more interesting COVID-related offerings tied basic detection to a database of all such measurements that could have great epidemiological value.
Other trends included 5G wireless technology, although the Verizon keynote presentation was so generic — it can do everything — as to be kind of meaningless, except that you can expect to be even more inundated with marketing to buy a new smartphone even sooner.
Last year’s CES in my view was breakout for brain-computer interface and neurotech companies, but these were less in evidence this year. One exception was that NextMind released a new SDK to launch their developer program. Robotics were prevalent this year, but not so much for transformative applications. Boulder company Misty Robotics has teased a companion robot for the elderly and other wellbeing situations, but at CES was only touting its base robot as a developer platform.
So maybe that’s another durable trend, not only in TransTech but all of tech, is that being first to market is less about killer apps anymore than being the first to market as the next iOS in a given tech segment.
So here is my Top Ten list, ranked not by some scoring system, just that they caught my eye for one reason or another.
Phi Biomed — This Korean company is developing a smart photonic contact lens for diabetes monitoring, and that also enables photobiomodulation therapy for diabetic retinopathy. A related product is a contact lens from Mojo Vision, which advertised a built-in, “eyes-up” display. The ability to build in reception and transmission capabilities in that form factor is amazing in itself, and the company plans to build in location information to call up relevant information or addresses. On TransTech themes, the company notes that “Eye movement is health care data in and of itself,”, and “head trauma could be diagnosed by data gathered by the lens.” A related neurostim company is Lumiola, touting “experts who study light, photobiology and health make technologies and products that have never existed in the world.” Their device talks about the healing power of ‘Natural Light’. Also in the neuromodulation category is CareWear, a “wearable therapeutics” company. They were featuring a line of light patches, including a Red Light Therapy Kit that claims reduction of muscle damage and accelerated recovery of muscle fatigue.
Somnox — The Sleep Robot is a pillow that pulses in sync with a user’s breathing rate, and can be set to gradually slow its rhythm to calm the user. SleepScore Labs, a venture in partnership with “Dr. Oz”, researches evidence based sleep solutions and curates an online store of such products.
Soovu — Soovu is a wearable pain relief employing pulses of high energy heat and temperature variance to desensitize pain receptors and bring greater relief. They note as an added mental health angle that depression is a comorbidity of pain. The product takes the form factor of small, wearable pods.
Tobii is an established eye-tracking tech company that is now evolving beyond assistive tech, where they produce the most commonly used tablet speller based on eye movement. The company is now working with researchers developing eye tracking applications for detection and treatment of cognitive processes such as attention or memory.
Binah AI — Binah provides vital signs measurement via smart phone image recognition plus AI analysis yielding data on heart rate, HRV, oxygen saturation, respiration rate, mental stress and so on, “in under 1 minute with medical-grade accuracy.” A similar company is Medtor LLC, using patented optical technology to bring medical grade vital signs monitoring to wearable platforms. The company has developed a complete medical OEM solution, validated in several independent clinical studies and is pending FDA clearance. And Brainworks AI is also offering a related technology. BioIntelliSenseprovides a patch, the BioButton, for similar sensing purposes. All of these companies (and many more) tout the value of these products for COVID monitoring.
Caregiver Smart Solutions — This is one of a large number of telehealth offerings at CES, many of which offer an array of sensors throughout the home for monitoring loved ones. Another is Care Predict, which offers a wearable watch paired with AI to assess changes in behavioral patterns of individuals in-home. I would say that many of these are re-purposed smart home sensors that come out of home security, and none that I’ve found this year that are paired with devices that might identify cognitive decline.
Olive Healthcare — South Korean company that has developed a “digital belly fat scanner” and other products based on Discrete Multi-Wavelength Near-Infrared Spectroscopy technology (DMW-NIRS). Also present at CES this year was Hyperfine, which last year introduced a portable MRI device also based on NIRS, and which is designed for triage use in emergency rooms.
iMediSync — This was the most exciting neurotech example that I found, an EEG and AI-based headset for detection of cognitive decline, including preclinical Alzheimer’s disease dementia.
Ultrahuman Healthcare — Mostly I liked the name, tackling what we in TransTech like to call “human flourishing.” The company offers a health and fitness platform (there’s that word again) that helps users meditate, workout efficiently, and optimize their sleep — “with the help of athletes, neuroscientists, artists, and psychologists” — all in one place.
General Motors — Wait, what? When attending CES in person, one normally avoids the highly scripted keynote sessions because you have to stand in line for an hour. But online, I quite enjoyed GM’s CEO Mary Barra. (A major part of CES in recent years has looked like a full-blown car show.) But in addition to their Electric Vehicle focus, which I applaud for its climate contributions, TransTech showed up in their Cadillac line. In particular, if you read the recent TransTech report on “in-car-wellbeing”, then you would have anticipated GM’s characterization of the new Cadillac Lyric Electric SUV as “an entirely new sensory experience,” featuring large video displays and augmented reality navigation. “Electrification gave us the opportunity for rethinking technology and the senses.” The Cadillac Celestiq featured in-car quadrants of independent lighting and personalized entertainment screens per seat,
Intending to “reeimagine what it means to be a passenger.” The kicker was when they discussed the Cadillac Halo concept vehicle, focused primarily on “group experience and personal wellbeing.” Nichol Bradford, meet Mary Barra.
Honorable Mention
Just because I had more than ten favorites:
Mercku Mudra — a neural input wristband wearable, which allows users to control digital devices using subtle finger movements. The technology utilizes recent breakthroughs in AI and Deep Learning to decipher neural patterns into digital commands. “We are developing the hardware and the software for a natural user interaction and experience.”
Healium — Healium, a TransTech Conference alumnus, was present at CES showcasing neurofeedback via EEG and AR technologies in order to achieve stress reduction and other benefits.
Olly — Olly is a “portable sunlight solution” — claims restoring full spectrum light has benefits for users’ energy level. Would seem to favorably reduce depression, but they don’t claim that and haven’t partnered with medical researchers.
Brink Bionics — Crowd-funded consumer/deep tech neural interface company, developing neurotech for gaming and e-sports, to optimize and improve performance for gamers. Their first product, Impulse is available for preorder on IndieGogo.
Akili Interactive — Featured product is digital prescription (video game) EndeavorRx, which touted results from a clinical trial: “a multi-site open-label study designed to evaluate the impact of EndeavorRx™ on impairments in daily life in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and inform prescribing practices.” The company’s Board includes friend-of-TransTech Adam Gazzaley.
I hope to be back in Vegas next year, waving the TransTech flag. CES in person can be overwhelming and a zoo, but what can I say — I kind of like it!
