Spotted: In pushing the boundaries of internet of things, French startup Nov’in has stepped into the walking cane industry.
Nov’in collaborated with long-time French cane manufacturer Fayet to build the connected walking cane, presumably to improve an aging geek’s mobility — and notify help in case of a fall.
The cane has , an “intelligent and learning alert system.” (Nov’in also put .) Inside the stick, there is also an accelerometer, gyroscope, microprocessor and GPS. Awkward movements or a fall could send an alert with the user’s location to get help.
The Dring stick also has built-in mobile service, via a GPRS or GSM chip, so it can be used without a smartphone (the main bridge that many IoT devices rely on to connect to the internet). But then of course, that means a separate mobile plan for the cane.
There’s also a rechargeable battery.
But the hardware is nothing without the artificial intelligence inside that apparently memorizes the habits of a user so the cane knows when a movement is not right — a fall, reduced activity, sleeping in. Alerts can be sent to caregivers via text or a call or e-mail when something is just not right.Of course, if someone falls, a text alert to a caregiver in the next town may result in a delay before someone arrives with help. But small steps. The cane is expected to launch during the third quarter of 2017.
