Bragi, which claims to have made the world’s first hearable devices, has introduced a new technology suite at Mobile World Congress 2019.
The suite consists of nanoSYSTEMS, a sensor-rich hardware platform designed for low-powered edge computing devices, nanoOS, Bragi’s a hardware-agnostic and modular OS, and nanoAI, machine learning-based sensor fusion technology for embedded systems. It will be available in the second quarter of 2019. Bragi will offer both custom-designed product solutions and ready-to-produce reference designs for hearables, based on this suite.
The upgraded platform enables new applications and features like context-aware audio instructions and guidance, fall detection and emergency alert, contextual audio transparency and group communication, all with an easy user interface based on the traditional touch or button interface, or more innovative AI powered interaction methods like head gestures, wake words and cheek touch.
Multiple microphones arrays provide state-of-the-art audio processing for hearing augmentation, voice control with wake-words, and enhanced speech clarity during telephony. The technology suite also facilitates collaborative computing and supports various communications standards.
Bragi’s reference design for wireless hearable solutions will support typical consumer applications like entertainment, sports and gaming, as well as offering the potential for top- and bottom-line benefits to organisations in a variety of industries, such as manufacturing, public safety, healthcare and transportation.
In the quest of further developing the business unit, Bragi has joined forces with Quuppa, a leader in indoor tracking technology, to become an AI System Integratorthat will bring artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions to the location system. This cooperation will drive the use cases to scale. “Quuppa is looking forward to partnering with Bragi and we are excited about the use cases our two companies can enable when combining high accurate real-time positioning and contextual intelligence.”, Kimmo Kalliola, Quuppa CEO and co-founder.
The company has also partnered with Syntiant, a semiconductor company from California, which also aims to move AI and ML from cloud to edge devices. Syntiantspecialises in ultra-low-power, high performance, deep neural network processors for edge computing, and with the combination of Bragi technology, the time to market and the cost of the solutions will reduce.
“We are pleased to be working with the Bragi team in addressing the market opportunity in the global hearables segment,” said Kurt Busch, CEO of Syntiant. “Bragi’sNanoAI vision of bringing deep learning to the edge is well aligned with Syntiant’s technology of enabling ultra-low-power always-on intelligent devices without cloud constraints.”
