Meet Ryan Oliver and Jonathan Kingsley, 15 and 14 years old, both students of Manchester Creative Studio who are also the creators of Kipstr. Kipstr is a wearable device capable of ensuring you never miss your TV show if you doze off while watching it. It is capable of determining when the user has fallen asleep and begins recording the TV show you were watching.
The gadget was produced after competing in a Virgin Media’s Switched on Futures scheme aimed at developing digital skills. Kipstr uses a pulse-oximeter to keep track of users’ heart rate while they watch TV and once the spark core chip detects that the user has fallen asleep, it talks to the TiVo box and begins recording the program that was being watched. It can also be used to resume the program once it detects that the user has woken up.
Power is drawn from a small lithium-polymer battery while the wearable strap has been 3D printed from Object Connex 3D printer with the Polyjet resin used as manufacturing material. As per Virgin Media, Polyjet was used since it is robust when compared with ‘rigid plastics used by most 3D printers.’
Virgin Media also talks about using Kipstr for monitoring emotional responses and thus, tagging different TV programs respectively for future reference. Also, it can be used for controlling other devices as well, for instance; it could turn off lights after detecting that the user has fallen asleep. Virgin Media shall be testing the gadget this Christmas.
Watch the video below and let us know what you think in the comments section!
