Samsung’s Fitness-Tracking Smart Belt WELT Watches Your Waist Line
Are you too calories conscious? Or do you indulge in overeating? Do you wish if there could be a device that could help you to eat the right quantity and not over indulge? There is some good news for such people.
Earlier this year at the CES, Samsung had showcased a smart belt called WELT as part of a line-up of prototypes born from its Creative Lab that goes around your waist like a regular belt and will track your waist size, the number of steps you take, your sitting time and will tell you when you should get up and walk around when you’ve eaten too much. Thanks to an embedded pedometer and a magnetic clasp fitted in the buckle.
WELT contains an array of sensors packed into the back of its buckle and an external micro-USB port for charging on its side. It will also include Bluetooth, an accelerometer and a 90mAh battery that offers up to 20 days of battery life. Therefore, you will need to charge your belt only about once a month, which is also the obvious downside of the device.
The WELT wants to be a real fitness tracker. A special magnetic sensor built into the buckle tracks how tight you wear your belt and lets you know if it notices any changes, for instance, if you have over-eaten. It does so by measuring the size of your tummy before and after meals. The company claims that your waist size can change in just 30 minutes before and after a meal, so keeping track of these changes can throw light on patterns of overeating. The pedometer can measure your steps and activity and calculate the calories burned.
The company’s app for Android or iOS automatically organizes all that information on a single screen so you can understand it easily. You will see graphs based on daily, weekly and monthly data to help show your progress. Depending on your body type, the app also automatically sets health goals and gets smarter over time the more you use it.
The fashionable and inconspicuous WELT comes in a variety of sizes, colors and patterns and is available for men and women. The WELT project team which is looking to raise US$30,000 to take the design into production has already reached its modest funding goal with 30 days to spare on the campaign. Pledges start at $69 for a WELT Casual, $99 for the Classic or $129 for the Premium. Kickstarter Special Editions of each come engraved with the backer’s name or a message. The devices are expected to start shipping in January 2017.
Source: Kickstarter
