MIT Startup Launches Thermoelectric Wearable – Update

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A company founded by former MIT students will launch the wearable Embr Wave early next year. For an MIT design competition, the researchers devised a bracelet that delivers heat or coolness to the wearer’s wrist.

The intention of Embr Wave is that the wearer feels more comfortable, but according to the makers, the wearable can also reduce energy consumption in the home because users would be less likely to turn up the thermostat. The four students won MIT’s Madmec competition in 2013 with a prototype called Wristify, after which they founded Embr Labs in 2014.

The wearable was based on the outcome of their research that rapid and localized changes in human skin temperature affect the entire body. By raising or lowering the temperature of the wrist by at least 0.1 degrees Celsius per second, the entire body will feel warmer or colder, it was concluded.

The bracelet contains a copper alloy heatsink with an aluminum housing. A prototype from 2013 had a battery life of eight hours with a lipo battery; the makers say nothing about the battery life of the current version. The wearable has thermometers to monitor the temperature of the body. Users can set the desired temperature themselves. Based on this, the Embr Wave gives off heat or coolness in waves. This should prevent users from getting used to the temperature and, for example, continuing to raise it, just like with a hot shower.

In addition, the speed of the waves has a psychological effect, MIT News writes. Faster waves make users more energetic, while slower waves provide a calming effect. The wearable does not have a display that shows the temperature, but shows a scale from blue to red to give an indication. “It’s less like a thermostat and more like a shower. You put it on the sensation that feels right,” says Sam Shames, one of the founders of Embr Labs. The Embr Wave should appear in early 2018.

Update, 14.50: The Kickstarter for the project is now online. This shows that the wearable can be ordered in a limited edition for $199, while the retail price is $299. Claimed battery life is two to three days with typical use of 25 to 50 temperature adjustment sessions.

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