Technologies

Wearable Bionic Exosuits Are the Next Step in Wearable Technologies

by MYLE Team | Mar 23, 2016 | Assistive Technology, Healthcare Tech, Other, Technologies, Wearable Tech | 0 comments

Do you remember the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, when the first kick was delivered by a man in an elaborate exoskeleton suit? This man was Juliano Pinto – a fully paralyzed person. Remarkably, but that exoskeleton suit enabled him to kick a soccer ball with his foot using – only his thoughts!

The progress hasn’t been frozen since the World Cup. Many companies have actively started developing these technologies and today we can see the first results of their hard work.

Wearable robotics are a logical extension of the modern wearable technologies, namely smartwatches, smart clothing, and many others. Noteworthy, the popularization of many wearable devices made it possible to reduce size of the computers, so that people could comfortably wear them on their bodies.

Dmitry Grishin, an entrepreneur and investor who serves as chief executive of Mail.ru Group and founder of Grishin Robotics, says that the revolution in technology and smartphones made many components – cameras, sensors, batteries, processors and others – incredible cheap. This factor boosted development of the modern exoskeletons.

According to recent market research by WinterGreen Research, the market for rehabilitation robots, active prostheses and exoskeletons is already worth $43 million with projected reach of $1.8 billion by 2020.

However, most people think of exosuits as standalone military machines that give superhuman abilities to anyone who wear it. For instance, Iron Man is the most obvious example of a person wearing exosuit.

However, coming back to reality, the United States Department of Defense works on the innovative project Tactical Light Operator Suit (TALOS) that aims to develop a soft, low-powered exosuit that will augment the physical capabilities of soldiers. This suit will allow the soldiers carry 100-plus pounds of equipment or 17 times more weight than a regular soldier without risking the joint and back injuries. These technologies will exceed the physical abilities of all troops.

TALOS project is a collaborative work involving 56 corporations, 16 government agencies, 13 universities, and 10 national laboratories. Below you can watch a video describing TALOS project.

Albeit, this statement (exosuits are the standalone military machines) is a half-truth, application of this technology is not limited to the only military.

Many companies like Panasonic, Kene Wearable Bionics or Cyberdyne strive to develop wearable robotic suits that will help people move again, or reduce strain on workers who are involved in physical labour for prolonged hours.

For instance, Cyberdyne created the Hybrid Assistive Limb (HAL) – the world’s first cyborg-type robot that enables person move again or reduce common strain on joints and back.

When a person wants to move a leg or an arm, then the brain sends signals through the spinal cord and the nerves that surround it. So, when the person is paralyzed, these spinal nerve structures are damaged, and the signals are too weak to reach the leg or the arm.

HAL functions by picking up these weakened brain signals through sensors that are attached to a person’s skin.

HAL could be applied to many fields such as welfare, medical, industrial or disaster sites. You can watch a video below describing HAL at work.

Another applicability of wearable robotic suits could be in the industrial sector. Panasonic is one of the companies that aim to integrate exosuits into every aspect of our lives.

In their video, they highlighted two exosuits – the Assist Suit and the Power Loader—that according to their vision would improve productivity and change the entire industry. You can watch their video below and share if you’d like to.

Apparently, such technology encounters lots of challenges. For instance, the first generation of the HAL suit weighed around 30 kilograms and required two persons to set up the suit while the last generation weighs only 10 kilos.

You may have guessed that weight and mobility of the exosuits are the crucial factors to consider because they’re supposed to give you wings to ease your strain on joints.

However, in order to make the exosuits lighter, the engineers should first reduce a size of the suit’s parts.

The biggest challenge in reducing size and weight of the parts is the battery life. Analogically to all modern devices, the battery is the biggest headache for all engineers because it can only last for a couple of hours.

Therefore, the engineers should find a way to invent a limitless power source, or, at least, a miniature battery that will last for a prolonged time.

Even though we’re far away from seeing the Iron Man suits on the streets – we should consider this fact that wearable robotics are the fast growing industry that’s already finding its use in medicine, manufacturing and the military.

How to Save Your Ideas with MYLE

by MYLE Team | Mar 18, 2016 | MYLE, Technologies, Wearable Tech | 0 comments

The human brain is the ultimate computing machine – some scientists even call it the most energy-efficient and sophisticated computing system in the universe that’s capable of processing millions of operations.

Consider the fact that human brain consists of around 100 billion neurons that each have up to 10,000 connections with their neighbours. So this hierarchical neuron system is responsible for the brain functioning.

Apparently, all of this sounds very intriguing, and perhaps you start thinking that if our brain is that powerful computing system, then we may never forget anything we think of, especially those gems – the creative ideas.

Well, with so much information passing through our brains every day, it’s impossible to remember everything that comes to our minds.

In order to store all valuable information, you have to record manually everything via cell phones or recording devices, or in an old-school way with your pen and notebook.

For instance, the touch-screen keyboards are not great for quick notes, because the navigation of the interfaces in most apps distract you from the original idea you have.

Some people dedicate years to develop a unique system that allows them to record anything noteworthy, but nothing changes because they have the same problem wrapped in the different foil.

Why would you need something that could instantly record your ideas, thoughts and notes as the voice or text notes, after automatically categorize them by content and send to any app you use, so nothing could distract you from the original thought?

All of this enabling you to look through your thoughts to expand and polish your original ideas.

MYLE automatically works with all your applications in the background mode, so there’s no need to mix multiple apps with each other to enhance user experience (UX).

MYLE works through instantly capturing your voice notes in the simplest and most natural way – by voice.

It’s the easiest way to save your complex ideas – which are hard to type down quickly. It’s designed so that you’re able to save your genius ideas at an inconvenient time and place.

With all that MYLE enables you to organize your daily routines in the most efficient and least stressful manner. Leave those endless distractions behind and focus on something that’s truly valuable.

MYLE: the Ultimate Baby Tracking Tool to Make You More Efficient

by MYLE Team | Mar 15, 2016 | MYLE, Technologies, Wearable Tech | 0 comments

It’s challenging being a new-born’s parent. You have to track the baby’s many needs – food, sleep, diapers, and much more. Especially it’s difficult when you’re balancing it with your other family members’ and work needs too.

If you get this out of control you end up with a big mess, a never-ending stress and a growing list of things that you absolutely must do. Often – simultaneously.

Seasoned parents with more than one child may recommend you try the child’s routine schedule , to have a more organized life for both the child and parents.

It allows you to track and predict eat-sleep-play schedule for your baby, so you can easier plan your own day without a conflict with the baby’s hours. But most importantly – the system helps train the internal biological clock of the baby.

The system gives you good understanding of many things. Does your child receive a proper amount of sleep? Or is the weight gain appropriate for the age?

A pediatrician will benefit from this data system too as a precise source of all basic data to evaluate how the baby develops. And the nice lady at the kindergarten will certainly appreciate if your little treasure has a habit of timed routine.

The science is not set on this though. You can find studies that support scheduling just as easily as those that oppose it and call for a natural rhythm.

There are many ways to track your baby’s schedule, including smartphone apps, notebooks or note-taking apps (like Evernote), Excel spreadsheets, magnetic whiteboards or simple charts as this one below.

However, these tools are not very convenient, each having its own set of disadvantages. What unites them all is that they are all cumbersome and take a great deal of accuracy and time to enter all events.

MYLE is the simplest way to track your baby’s sleeping, diaper and eating habits. There’s no more manual information input. It’s designed so that all the important stuff could be recorded in the most natural way – using your voice. Tap your device and say for how long your child has been sleeping past night or plan a daily activity schedule, so you know what to expect from the upcoming day.

MYLE will record this information as a voice-note, convert it into text and automatically will categorize it based on the keywords and contents of your note.

Then MYLE will apply its unique AI algorithm to all gathered data to track and analyse your baby’s trends from day to day.

Now you will have a much better chance of having a bit more time for yourself and other family members. Or get some extra sleep that you’ve been deprived of. All the while keeping good track of your baby’s activities each day and see the records in a straightforward and transparent form. You will be able to use it for yourself – or instantly easy share this information with your pediatrician.

#LifeHack: Organize Your Busy Life with MYLE

by MYLE Team | Mar 9, 2016 | MYLE, Technologies, Wearable Tech | 0 comments

Once, Michael J. Fox, an actor from “Back to the Future,” said:

“Family is not an important thing. It’s everything.”

It’s a true statement from Mr. Fox, because most of the times our daily routines take all of our free time, which often mean less time for us to spend with those we love most – family. Tight schedule, infinite appointments, forgetfulness, inefficient life and poorly organized days – all of this put too much stress into the life.

However, are you aware of the daily amount of time you devote to each task?

Time tracking is one of the ways to stay productive and motivated during the day. It allows you to know exactly how much time you actually need to complete a task.

When you look closer at how you spend your time, you’ll hit the next level of productivity.

” which outlines mindfulness techniques for better productivity at a job, says that most people spend time on tasks that could be put on hold or eliminated from their schedule.

For example, he says that continuously being overwhelmed by too much information and distractions could lead to reduced focus and productivity.

One of the ways to manage time, thus, become more productive and efficient is to use the Eisenhower’s Box, or a productivity matrix that allows you to organize your tasks as simple as possible.

This decision matrix separates your actions based on necessity:

Urgent and important – things that must be completed immediately.
Important, but not urgent – things that could be done later.
Urgent, but not important – things that someone else can do for you.
Neither urgent, nor important – things that will be eliminated.

This model can be used for an extensive weekly planning, “How am I going to spend my time each week so that I can get enough time for my kids?”

Alternatively, it can be used for the small daily plans, “What’s the urgent task I should complete today, and which is not?”

Planning has a great psychological effect on your health. Each time when you complete a task, it triggers your brain to release the neurotransmitter dopamine, which helps regulate the brain’s reward and pleasure centres.

However, when it comes to logs, people are usually losing any interest in such dull things, because they’re taking too much time to fill out.

Thus, people get rid of these planning logs almost instantly.

MYLE was created to help you ease this process.

How does it work? MYLE works through instantly capturing your voice notes in the simplest and most natural way – by voice.

For instance, your weekly plan could be filled in less than 30 seconds by speaking it:
“To-do (a trigger phrase), complete work’s project in two days, write emails to clients by tomorrow, remind John to pick up kids from school the day after tomorrow, search for meal ideas for Friday dinner, and clean the house between all these tasks.”

MYLE will understand your words, categorize them, sort them based on urgency, set up reminders for you to keep up to date with your plans and send this plan to any app you use for planning.

This intelligent device prioritizes your tasks through automatically tracking your time, analyzing your activity history, and then making suggestions to improve your productivity.

For instance, when it’s tracking your daily activities, MYLE can see if you’re behind your weekly plan. Thus, MYLE can review your weekly plan optimizing other tasks to keep your life balance at the normal pace.

Planning and prioritization are crucial for your life because it keeps your mind fresh, your stress at the healthy level and keeps you energetic during a day, but most importantly it saves your precious hours for those you love most – family.

Wearable Tech Industry: 5 Quick Facts

by MYLE Team | Mar 7, 2016 | MYLE, Technologies, Wearable Tech | 0 comments

Wearable technologies become more innovative and more personalized. Therefore, it’s not a surprise that many of us start looking closer to this market.

For example, investors are looking for unique startups which are ready to revolutionize the entire industry with its creative and innovative concepts, while consumers are looking for solutions to simplify their lives.

Apparently, wearable technologies are the new revolution in the technological world, the result of which will be a total replace of the mobile phones.

Martin Cooper, the father of the modern cell phones, predicts that wearable devices will be designed for everyone personally, around their personalities, social statuses (i.e. education, background, job, family, etc.)

Even though many experts believe that tremendous growth in wearable technologies could lead to a security collapse, this doesn’t stop wearables to growing fast.

Here are the quick five facts to know about wearable technologies industry:

1. Approximately 80 million wearables were shipped worldwide in 2015. According to IDC research, collectively Apple, Fitbit and Xiaomi controlled 65% of the global wearable market: Fitbit with 22.2%, with 18.6%, Xiaomi with 17.4%, and Garmin, No. 4 company, with only 4.1%. To remhttps://www.pebble.com/ind you, this was only 2015, while the number of wearable shipments will skyrocket to more than 214 million by 2019.

2. What’s more interesting is that wearable market was worth $7 billion in 2015, and that number will quadruple to $31 billion by 2020 making this field as one of the most fast-growing.

3. Currently you can distinguish wearables by these two characteristics: basic and smart wearables.

Basic wearables are those gadgets that can’t run third-party apps. For instance, Fitbit is the most popular basic wearable on the market. It tracks your heart rate, monitors your fitness activities, and counts how many steps you’re done.

Smart wearables are those that can run third party apps. Apple Watch or Pebble are the great examples of smart wearables. You can run different apps on those smartwatches, and they’re usually synchronized with your phone.

MYLE is an example of smart wearable too. You can run any third party apps on this tiny device, whether it’s budget, family communications or activity tracker and many others.

4. One of the hottest trends this year is the smart clothing. Smart clothing allows its users to gain more accurate health data than wrist-worn devices.

Smart clothing can collect precise information as you walk, sleep, work or train. It may even see your body position and which muscles you currently use during the specific physical activity. According to experts about 14% of consumers are expected to purchase some kind of smart clothing by 2018.

5. Apple Watch is a dominant force in the smartwatch market. They shipped nearly 7 million units in the Q2 after it went on sale — that’s more than all of its competitors combined over the past five Qs. Apple holds about 74% of the global smartwatch market right now and is expected to hold the lead until at least 2020.

3 Ways to Make Your Life Better with MYLE and Evernote

by MYLE Team | Mar 4, 2016 | MYLE, Other, Technologies, Wearable Tech | 0 comments

Evernote is an app for your smartphone, tablet or computer. It’s been created to boost your productivity, ameliorate your life, and make it easier to keep organized your notes, ideas, thoughts and to-dos.

However, how can you make the most effective productivity system out there more productive? Well, why not to think about MYLE wearable personal assistant?

MYLE is not a substitute to Evernote or any other apps. Rather, through instantly capturing your voice notes in the simplest and most natural way – by voice – MYLE simplifies and streamlines saving of your thoughts and notes into your existing systems that you use and already accustomed to. Like Evernote. Moreover, you don’t need to have your mobile devices in hand all the time.

Here are the three ways you can master your life with Evernote and MYLE.

Record Notes.

You love the smell of real books and regularly taking down your favourite quotes and unfamiliar words into your Evernote account. You have specified a folder for quotes, thoughts, or ideas from the books, and appropriate tags for non-fiction, fiction, classics, sci-fi books, or other genres.

However, how distractive is this process becoming when you should continuously reaching for the phone, unlocking it, logging into your Evernote account, typing quotes and tags to send them to the folders.

Apparently, when you read a lovely novel or scientific research, this distraction takes away your attention and sense of the story or information, so instead of reading the book you’re spending half of the time on transferring the highlights into your account.

MYLE cuts this distractive process to five seconds. You only need to say your quote and this intelligent device will do the rest for you. It will convert your words into text and audio notes (if you prefer audio notes over text), understand whether a word is a tag or not, categorize them by groups, and then send to the proper folder.

There is no more need to type everything manually. This feature is especially handy for those who love taking hundreds of notes either to share them on their favourite social media accounts, or to use it while doing research for a university project.

Remind yourself of your forgetfulness.

Friedrich Nietzsche, a German philosopher, once said,

“The advantage of a bad memory is that one enjoys several times the same good things for the first time,” Friedrich Nietzsche.

There’s no doubt it’s a great feeling to enjoy the same moment several times in a row.

However, forgetfulness can also lead to bad outcomes too. For instance, you can forget about important project deadlines, the massive to-do list that is due by the end of the week, client meetings and other important things you’re trying to keep in mind.

Unfortunately, humans tend to forget more than half of the information they receive due to lack of attention, poor memory, or external distractions. Therefore, Evernote may become an excellent solution for someone who’s looking to keep their lives more organized.

Whilst, using MYLE with your Evernote account you can quickly set reminders for the weeks ahead. It will automatically send reminders to your account, set a type of the reminder whether it’s email, in-app notification or a badge on the app title.

Meal Planning.

Another excellent way to master your life with Evernote and MYLE is to have a meal planning. For those of you who’re not familiar with this cash-time-saving tip, meal planning is whatever way you’re going to cook a particular meal on a specific day of a week or even a month.

This helps you organize a list of necessary ingredients and recipes, a budget for the coming week and a shopping list to spend time more efficiently in the grocery store.

It’s especially handy when you’re out doing the grocery shopping. You don’t feel anxious and panicky in the store because your shopping list is ready and you already know how much you’re going to spend, and more importantly why you need those products.

So, Evernote can be an excellent storage for all your meal ideas, shopping lists, and recipes. MYLE in integration with Evernote, can automatically save your recipes in your account, tag the notes with, let’s say “#mygrocerylist,” add meals to the calendar and sort everything for quick access. The only thing you need to do with MYLE is to tap and say what’s your meal on that particular day.

MYLE has one more distinctive feature. MYLE learns your behaviour to improve its suggestions to you.

For example, through analyzing your previous purchase history, such as your most visited grocery stores, the amount of money you regularly spend, your previous and current shopping lists, your weekly grocery budget and other relevant metrics, MYLE can suggest you products and special deals to stick to your weekly budget.

This makes your life more productive and efficient.