Tomsk residents create a cheap gadget for sleep study at home

TOMSK, Oct 12 – RIA Tomsk. Tomsk developers created a prototype of a wireless device for monitoring of human breathing and other parameters during sleep; pre-sales of the device which can replace expensive import analogs will begin in 2017, the project manager Alexander Uvarov reported to RIA Tomsk.

Monitoring station of under a mattress

The project under the name Sleepio is realized by the innovative company of Tomsk of the same name. Sleepio is a contactless sleep-tracker, the tiny device with the size it is slightly more than plastic card. The tracker is put under a bed mattress.

"During sleep you breathe, your heart beating, and all this makes vibration which extends in surrounding objects. Vibrations are very small, it is difficult to estimate them. But the tracker catches them, and then counts such parameters as breath, heartbeat, the movements in a dream, snore. The tracker estimates, whether you slept good or bad", – Uvarov explains.

In the morning the tracker independently sends the obtained data to the user's smartphone by means of Bluetooth, and the corresponding mobile application issues recommendations.

"The device "lives" on one battery about three months. Estimated cost of a tracker is – 20-25 dollars. Its foreign competitors cost more than 100 dollars. This was initially our concept – we wanted to make the most available sleep-tracker on the market", – the project manager says.

Why do we need sleep monitoring

"The person has basic requirements: sleep and food. Without food a person can live for two months, and with no sleep - at most a week. In the modern world people not only eat badly, they still sleep badly. People began to sleep 20% less. There are nervous violations, respiratory standstill problems in a sleep. And we don't see these problems – we sleep", – Uvarov says.

"By the way, such banal thing as snore is respiratory standstill harbinger in a sleep. But the person doesn't notice snore. Special sensors are necessary. In time to distinguish a problem, various sleep-trackers are created", – Uvarov adds.

Now the prototype of the device is created, pre-sales are planned for the beginning of 2017.

"In our team – there are scientists, programmers. Have involved the consulting physician on a sleep subject from the Russian society of somnologists. Thus, the project is supported by doctors", – the interlocutor of the agency reported.

Developers expect, first of all on the world market as in Russia, according to Uvarov, sleep-trackers aren't especially demanded. The HaxVentures fund (joint structure of SIF RVC and the Tomsk holding DI Group) acted as the investor of the project and has already invested about 6 million rubles in development.

"Smart" gadgets

At the end of September residents of Tomsk presented the development at the international conference "Internet of Things" in Moscow. According to experts, this action is the central event of Russia devoted to "smart" technologies. Sleepio developers together with other companies from Russia and Belarus were involved in fight of startups.

The Internet of things (IoT) is, roughly speaking, the devices interacting with the help of the Internet not only with users, but also with each other. Two tens similar gadgets also estimated jury of a competition of startups.

One of teams presented the control system of gate and barriers from any point of the world. "The device which is enough to be connected to the power supply far off to operate gate, to operate access. <…> We have the ready-made product consisting of the device, mobile application under iOS and Android, WEB services and demand for the product confirmed with the first sales", – is said in the project presentation.

"Smart" bowl for dogs and cats – is one more participant of fight of startups. By means of such gadget its developers plan to solve such problem of pets as an overeating. "Functionality: the automatic order of a forage to your home, recommendations about care of an animal, saves you till 120 o'clock in a year, access to data from any point of the world", – the representative of the project told.

The Belarusian team presented the system of global monitoring of a functional condition of athletes: "Pocket cardiostress tester. Four ways of renting of the electrocardiogram with viewing of data are provided in the smartphone and the computer. It is possible to take it on stadium, in the gym, locker room, car, office and sauna".

Other developers offered the "Keyboard with Touch Buttons" project on court of jury: "The touchpad on all surface of the keyboard, a key are pressed as usual".

The first place in fight of startups was taken by the Belarusian developers of the rehabilitation station which restores motive abilities of patients with a cerebral palsy, the people who have had a stroke and also after injuries and a disease of joints. "One robotic exercise machine provides effective rehabilitation of 150 patients in a year. Need of Russia and Belarus – more than 16 thousand exercise machines", – is said in the project presentation.

The exercise machine can be installed in a medical office or at home, for management they will need only one person. The patient is placed in a suspended chair of the station then the exercise machine itself raises extremities of the person. According to developers, the cost of the station is many times less than foreign analogs, at the same time it replaces several exercise machines used in rehabilitation at once.

Ideal Internet of thingdiagnosis

The manager on development of an ecosystem "Internet of Things" of the Intel company Igor Rudym told about the prospects of development of this direction to journalists within the conference.

According to him, IoT exerts impact on human life in several directions: "Rescue of people. A good example is the initiative of "ERA-GLONASS" on equipment of each car of Russia with a peculiar "black box" which transfers information on finding of the car in real time.

In case of sharp braking and blowing the system automatically transfers information to a post of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. It transfers place coordinates where there was an accident. If accident has happened in the city, it is possible to call "ambulance" from the next car. And if it happened somewhere in the field where cars very seldom pass then the account goes on seconds before arrival of doctors. Respectively, this system really helps to save lives.

Protection of the planet. In this direction there is a good example, it was made in London. The London city hall together with university have developed a box (device) which measures the CO2 level (carbon dioxide). Boxes have placed on Hyde park perimeter. Further data brought to the map of the park, showed where it is most of all polluted.

They have seen that (air) pollution is most of all on park corners where there are crossings of highways. And that these pollution can be reduced, reducing quantity of traffic jams in these zones. Now developers connect to traffic lights an information from these sensors, and traffic lights regulate these intersections so that less cars are accumulated in problem zones".

Improvement of life quality – is one more IoT direction. Here belong "smart" houses, automatic data collection from counters of housing and public utilities and so on. Annually developers of the whole world offer a set of the new gadgets simplifying life of the person. And often experts can't tell what of these devices will be used widely in the near future.

At the same time experts agree that the number of the devices connected to the Internet will grow. Now them there are more than 15 billion, and by 2020, according to forecasts of experts, in the world there will be 50 billion of "smart" gadgets.