Lighting products maker Sengled showed off a smart light bulb at CES 2022 that uses radar technology to monitor people’s health. CES 2022 started off on a rocky note, with many companies withdrawing their in-person attendance over the exponential rise in COVID-19 cases, largely on account of the Omicron variant. The list of companies that have changed their CES 2022 plans because of the pandemic include some of the biggest names in tech, such as Google, Microsoft, Lenovo, Waymo, Amazon, TikTok, and Meta, among others.
Notwithstanding the withdrawals, CES 2022 has seen a slew of interesting announcements, ranging from stress forecasting smartwatches, portable burglar detectors, invisible headphones, cars that change color at the press of a button, autonomous tractors, smart dash cams, bi-folding smartphones, futuristic concept vehicles, and a plethora of quirky robots. The smart light bulb adds to that list, bringing a gadget that nobody ever asked for, but is super interesting nonetheless.
The new smart bulb demoed by Sengled comes with innovative health monitoring technology that can track users’ vital signs and then deliver that information to their smartphones. The bulb comes with a Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Mesh Dual Chip, which means no hub is necessary to get all functions to work as advertised. The built-in biometric trackers include heart rate and body temperature measurements, as well as sleep tracking, making it a possible replacement for some wearable health-trackers. The Smart Health Monitoring Light uses Frequency-Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radar together with Sengled’s proprietary AI algorithms to help monitor the health data.
Network Of Smart Bulbs Can Detect Human Behavior
While one bulb is enough to take several health measurements, multiple bulbs used together in a network offer even more functionality. According to Sengled, multiple bulbs connected via a Bluetooth Mesh create a “virtual map” that can detect people’s movements and determine if someone has fallen. The network can then send for help directly, or send an alert that will allow someone to check on the person. It all sounds straight out of a sci-fi movie, but the device is very real and the company is planning to bring it to the market later this year.
Overall, the Smart Health Monitoring Light is boldly going where no smart bulb has gone before, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed. Sengled won the 2022 CES Innovation Award Honoree recognition for the new bulb, marking its tenth win at the annual tech conference for its smart lighting solutions. The smart light bulb will be available for purchase in the fourth quarter of this year, although there’s currently no word on the price.
