Airo Health has announced the launch of their AIRO Wristband.
It uses spectroscopy to automatically monitor caloric consumption, stress, exercise and sleep quality and also provide users with actionable advice to improve their overall health.
AIRO is trying to set themselves apart from their competitors by using raw data collected through the wristband to give the user actionable advice to improve overall health through a smartphone app.
“There are so many things happening in one’s life, that if you don’t know what to do next, you won’t do it” Jayakumar. “We are providing proof of how your body’s behaving, which should be enough for you to say, ‘oh, I need to do something.”
AIRO monitors calories and quality of meals consumed. Caloric intake is measured using different wavelengths of light to look into the bloodstream to detect metabolites as they are released during and after eating. Abhilash Jayakumar, co-founder and CEO of Airo Health told engadget that “as your body breaks the food down, the sensor can detect the amount of light that passes through the blood based on green, red and infrared patterns.” It even parses the nutritional value of food into protein, fat and carbohydrates. The developers are working out ways to differentiate between simple and complex starches. The raw data measured is also used to recommend ways to improve nutrition.
Heart rate variability is used to monitor micro-fluctuations in stress throughout the day. AIRO notifies the user when a personal stress threshold is passed and recommends steps such as breathing exercises to recover.
Exercise is monitored via daily exertion through heart rate and caloric burn rather than steps. It detects intensity of activities and checks how the body has recovered from activity over the next few days and recommends taking days off if deemed necessary. AIRO looks at the automatic nervous system to monitor sleep. It recognizes distinct sleep patterns and can tell when the body is in deep sleep, light sleep or REM. It can wake the user when most optimal and can tell the user how much of their sleep was restorative.
AIRO will be shipped in the fall of 2014. It can be pre-ordered for $149 and will then go on sale for $199.