As a father myself I am always grateful for useful devices that make parenting a little bit easier. The kind of M2M devices available have moved on significantly since the days when I returned from paternity leave myself not so long ago, contemplating the virtues of automated M2M connected nappies. Here are some of the most innovative options out there at the moment:
1. The Bluetooth bottle –Babies can take in a lot of air when they’re trying to drink, which can lead to indigestion and colic. Baby Glgl is a Bluetooth-enabled bottle which has LED indicators that let parents know when they need to adjust the angle of the bottle to reduce air bubbles. It also connects to a mobile app, so mum and dad can track how much, and how fast the baby is drinking.
2. The Smart Diaper – Why not check their Smart Diaper (or nappy) to see what’s wrong? The nappy has a chip in it which can test for hydration, infection and even diabetes and by scanning the chip on the outside of the nappy with your smartphone, you can see data in a simple format which can then be sent onto your doctor for a diagnosis.
3. The Intelligent thermometer – TempTraq, is the first and only 24-hour intelligent thermometer that continuously senses, records and sends alerts of a child’s temperature to your mobile device. You can receive regular updates on your child’s temperature through TempTraq’s sensor, rather than pacing back and forth with a traditional thermometer and waking the child up each time.
4. The connected monitor –Baby monitors have existed for many years but the Owlet connected sock doesn’t just broadcast noise, it keeps an eye on the child’s vital signs and alerts you when they are outside the norm. All of the information is sent to your phone, saving you from distributing the child while it sleeps.
5. The fertility checker – Well this more relates to having another child, but Bloom is a high-tech way for women to monitor when they’re most fertile. The sensor measures core body temperature to detect changes that occur before ovulation, and then, via Bluetooth, sends an alert to a requested smartphone.
Both the commercial opportunity and the potential for IoT innovation in all sectors is really exploding right now and parents are clearly a key target market, as we’ve seen from the influx of products at events such as January’s CES. And being a parent myself, I am more than happy for this to continue.
Written by: Manfred Kube, Head of M2M Segment Marketing, Gemalto