Deadline pileups, bad customer service, environmental catastrophes, crazed drivers -- it's easy to feel like the world is out to get you. But the next time something raises your hackles or brings you down, a high-tech wristband could help you return to homeostasis.
The W/Me wristband was created by the Mountain View startup Phyode, headed by self-described gadget junkies and medical researchers. Instead of simply monitoring behavior like sleep, steps taken or calories burned, the wristband aims to pick up the wearer's mood and offer an interactive guide for quickly getting back on track, according to its developers.
Each band contains a medical-grade sensor called the life spectrum analyzer. Phyode says the components include instrumentation amplifiers, a filter chain, a precision analog-to-digital converter, a patent-pending dry conduction electrode and a digital signal processor. This allows the device to capture and analyze electrical impulses from special cells in the right atrium, an indicator for your body's autonomic nervous system.
Touching and holding the wristband generates a set of measurements, which are transmitted to an app on the user's phone. This data yields graphs that depict the user's score on the passive, excitable, pessimistic and anxious spectra. When any of these scores are extreme, the app's virtual coach -- a fitness whale named Attu -- guides the user through breathing exercises.
A few weeks ago, the company took its campaign to Kickstarter. And, as GOOD's Meghan Neal pointed out, the W/Me got fully funded, even though there are 21 days of the $100,000 campaign still left.
Man, I could really use some technology like this for those times when it feels hard to breathe. Bad driving in particular tends to cause my jaw to clench. Those Phyode guys better prepare for lots of orders from the West because Colorado has a blinker fluid shortage.