Sports and fitness tech products honored at CES 2020
Robin Raskin has been attending the Consumer Electronics Show for 30 years.
As the number of attendees has grown, Raskin, the producer of CES 2020’s Last Gadget Standing contest, is convinced their waistlines have shrunk.
“The average weight of people has gone way down and they all wear those fitness bands,” she said. “I think they’re working.”
Sports and fitness technology has evolved in recent years from fitness bands that simply count steps to products that measure heart rate, blood flow, balance and more.
“Sports and fitness have not just been a strong part of CES but a growing part every year,” said Raskin, the founder of Living in Digital Times, a series of conferences and events. “The industry has revolved around three things: mobile phones, the cloud and sensors. Sensors have smaller footprints now and are more powerful. That has led to a rainstorm of devices that help sports performance.
“Whether it’s hiking, swimming or skiing, there are devices for you to measure your performance and improve your performance.”
There were four sports and fitness products entered in the Last Gadget Standing contest: YogiFi, CyclePath, Instabeat and MAXPRO all-in-one smart gym.
YogiFi and CyclePath also are Innovation Award Honorees at CES 2020.
Here’s a glance at each product:
YogiFi
YogiFi is a smart virtual yoga instructor comprised of an intelligent yoga mat and companion app that can be used at any time and place. Pressure sensors in the mat track and correct various yoga postures with real-time feedback. The product also correlates body vitals and breathing patterns, and tracks flexibility, strength and balance. The app offers a wide range of wellness programs and helps users connect with yoga professionals.
CyclePath
CyclePath is billed as the ultimate elliptical pedaling game console. The hybrid technology combines exercise with game playing and has the potential to help condition kids to play on their smartphones while exercising. The product uses bluetooth technology to link a smartphone to the bike, and the info is synced to the included fitness band. While pedaling, kids can play games on their phone where they’re racing on an off-road track or elsewhere.
“They’ve gamified the biking experience,” Raskin said. “So that motivates you to keep doing it.”
Instabeat
Instabeat is billed as the first smart monitor to mount on any swimming goggles and give swimmers real-time heart rate feedback, which is based on colors on the monitor: blue for low effort, green for fitness and red for maximum performance.
The optical heart rate sensor reads an accurate heart rate from the temple, and the motion sensors automatically track the head’s motion to determine the lap count, lap time and swim strokes.
“It’s a really smart feat of engineering that they have waterproofed this and thought about how you can measure swimming,” Raskin said. “It’s the same idea with CyclePath and YogiFi of using sensors and feedback and the cloud to create an enhanced sports experience.”
MAXPRO
The MAXPRO All-in-one smart gym is billed as the world’s most versatile full body portable fitness machine, a small device that can replace a gym full of equipment. It comes with smartphone connectivity and a motivating coaching app that allows users to set goals and track their progress with workout analytics. Resistance levels are adjustable from 10 pounds to 300 pounds with a simple turn of a dial. But the product weighs less than nine pounds and can fold conveniently to fit into a carry-on bag or backpack.
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