CES 2016 is a week away and Samsung Electronics has a slew of things it intends to announce at the event. Samsung has revealed that it will be offering a demo of three of its C-Lab or Creative Lab projects.
Samsung made the announcement on Wednesday, Dec. 30, and it will be the first time its innovation program C-Lab will be demoed in front of an audience. The three C-Lab projects which Samsung intends to unwrap at the CES 2016 are WELT, Rink and TipTalk.
The projects will be shown off at Eureka Park (in Hall G) from Jan. 6 to Jan. 9, 2016. Since the projects are still being developed, Samsung is keen on sharing them in order to assess the market viability. The demo will also allow Samsung to garner invaluable feedback from CES attendees. This will help the company to make the necessary alterations and improvements.
Samsung’s C-Lab program is designed to aid employees to cultivate their creative business ideas. The initiative was started in 2012 and offers support for over 100 projects. Nearly 70 C-Lab projects have been completed and 40 are being developed further by the company’s business units.
In 2015, Samsung identified 9 projects as having high potential and therefore assisted these teams to launch external startups that are fully functional independent business units such as Innomdle Lab which invented TipTalk.
C-Lab Projects: What are WELT, TipTalk and Rink?
While there is plenty of buzz surrounding these three projects Samsung will unveil at the CES 2016, one wonders what are these products about and what sets them apart from the crowd.
WELT
Targeted at healthcare, WELT is basically a smart belt that will potentially allow users to monitor their waist size and health. It will track a user’s steps and time spent sitting down, waist size and eating habits. The recorded data will then be shared with an app designed to analyze the information. WELT then creates a personalized weight management and healthcare plan for the wearer based on this information.
“WELT is a smart wearable healthcare belt that looks like a normal belt, thus offering consumers a more discreet way of using smart sensor technology to monitor their health,” says Samsung.
Rink
This device will excite virtual reality lovers as Rink is a hand motion controller for portable VR devices. Rink is designed to look like straps rather than gloves, which can be worn around the hands. Samsung says it will offer users a “more intuitive” and “nuanced way to interact with the virtual world.”
Thanks to Rink, users will be able to not only interact intuitively but also control a game or the content by simply using their hands, which in turn will lead to a more immersive experience.
TipTalk
This unusual project will make people sit up and take notice. TipTalk is a new UX or user experience which will enable one to hear sounds that are transmitted from smart devices without the need of an earphone. One can simply touch his finger to his ear and the sound can instantly heard.
TipTalk is basically a watch strap that can be hooked on to both analog and smart smartwatches such as Samsung’s Gear S2. However, the UX does more than hold the watch together.
One can take calls, hear songs sans headphones by a simple pressing of the finger against one’s ear. TipTalk can be synced with smartphones and the TTS functionality can be enabled.
“This [TipTalk] enhances the clarity of calls, enabling them to be taken in public, even in noise-sensitive or loud environments, such as a concert hall or building site – without the risk of being overheard,” notes Samsung.
With CES 2016 around the corner, we will soon get a glimpse of the three C-Lab projects and see if they live up to their expectations.
[“source-techtimes”]