CES 2019: Two devices to watch for

Usually, I describe up to 5 different unusual items in my CES blogs, but there were two items that impressed me while walking around CES that deserve more attention and detail. 

The first item is EzOxygen from Genius Holdings Co., I’m describing in more detail not just because it addresses a real-life problem for those with asthma, COPD, bronchitis and other diseases affecting lung health but also because it will be available in Canada at London Drugs and similar stores soon due to the hard work of its President and CEO Catherine Kan, a fellow Canadian. 

EzOxygen is a small device that alerts people to seek health professional advice before they get into real trouble such as asthmatic attacks and emergency hospital visits. It is an ultrasonic technology breath checker. EzOxygen connects your breathing data with the cloud using a linked smartphone. It generates 25 times more accurate data than similar devices and it is the only portable AI device in its field. 

EzOxygen enables remote diagnosis eliminating the necessity of referral to pulmonary function testing labs (huge plus for rural clinics, health enthusiasts, athletes and lung care clinics in third world countries).

It tracks and retains the user’s historical health data and results, correlating real-time external components such as local weather and air index quality via GPS. If it does everything it advertises, it will enable a paradigm shift from sick-care to health-care for users with diseases affecting lung health. It will retail for $189 CDN and will be available in April. 

The other interesting device is from Cherry Home, which is designed to improve seniors care. Cherry complements family and professional caregiving with a set of sensors that “learns” the daily routines of seniors.

The device which is five by five inches uses optical data interpreted by an AI algorithm to understand and analyze home events to highlight when something unusual happens with a senior. In addition to face recognition, Cherry distinguishes people by gait, body proportion, and the colours of their clothes. Therefore, even if the person turns away from the sensor, the system will recognize him or her from the back.

If the senior does something unusual that s/he hasn’t done before or if an activity pattern changes (for example, goes to bathroom too many times or forgets to turn off the oven) an alert is sent to the caregiver or emergency contact.

The device is being tested now at caregiving agencies and will be available next year.

While Cherry allows seniors to live more independently, it is not inexpensive. The estimate for a two bedroom house is $1,800 for the devices and $30 per device per month for the monitoring. But what price do you put on peace of mind?  

My next blog will return to the usual format, reviewing more items at CES 2019.