SenceBand, the wearable that knows how you are feeling, starts shipping
SenceBand is a new type of wearable that provides insights into your emotions. The Texas-based outfit ran two successful crowdfunding campaigns – one on Kickstarter the other on Indiegogo. Some two years later, the first devices have now been delivered to early backers.
Originally, the SenceTech team assembled not to build a hardware device but to collect high quality ECG screening data. With this data, they hoped to built a huge database they could sell to others. The 28 strong team ultimately found that wearables either didn’t use rigorous enough ECG measurements to make use of the data or that they did not provide enough readings for the data to be useable. So they set out to create a health and fitness tracker of their own.
SenceBand is a rather chunky looking device that uses the electrical activity of your heart to do its magic. Heart rate data is collected passively at a frequency of the user’s choosing so they can collect readings without having to stop their activities.
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The wearable measures ECG using proprietary technology that allows it to cancel out the electromagnetic “noise” from your body. This mechanism filters out things like electrical signals from muscle contractions and leaves only the electromagnetic feed from your heart (ECG). In fact, SenceBand is the only smart bracelet capable of measuring ECG just from one wrist. The result is apparently 250 times more precise than traditional fitness trackers which use optical sensors that measure blood flow.
Algorithms then turn this raw data into actionable analytics. By analyzing Heart Rate Variability (HRV) the device is able to measure over 64 different emotions and simultaneously monitor the events that may trigger specific feelings.
The wearable promises to give you and understanding exactly when and where you felt sad or stressed and when you were the most vital. You can even get notifications when something interesting recently happened with your own emotional states or to those of someone in your network.
“We set out to create the first consumer wearable that tracks emotions with medical-grade technology,” said Co-Founder Eugene Nayshtetik.
“Sence uses patent-pending R-Peak Tracking technology to measure heart activity. Sence gives wearers a dashboard of their physical and emotional health at a level of detail unmatched by existing wearables.”
The device syncs with calendars, allowing users to track events, meetings, workouts and their emotional reactions at the time, to pinpoint stressors and identify patterns. Just tell Sence how often to take a scan, and you’re good to go. Sence also functions as a fitness tracker, recording steps, daily physical activity and physical recovery.
While its safe to say the wearable is not exactly a looker, it is definitely a fascinating one to watch. We hope to get our hands on a unit in the near future and put it through its paces. In the meantime, the early reviews from the 1,000+ backers should make interesting reading.
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I’m an early backer on the Sence and the comments on the Kickstarter site indicate that this is a flawed product. Here is my posting from the kickstarter site that I’ve copied here:
I’ve encountered several of the problems that others have mentioned below: poor battery life, unable to connect to my phone, sence shuts down for no apparent reason. Based on what I observed in the signal, the Sence is not able to record an ECG signal without artifact from muscle movement. I was able to observe this during the limited amount of time the device would work for me before losing battery power. Clearly many (all?) of the devices sent out have not been tested thoroughly and my experience with it so far is that the Sence is not capable of doing what it was advertised to do: monitor the nervous system throughout the day regardless of body movement. I have used several devices that measure heart rate variability and if it is being measured at the wrist or fingers, then the quality of the signal is significantly impacted by the person moving. I had hopes that the sence team had conquered this issue, but it looks like I was wrong. I’ve sent multiple emails to Tetiana over the last couple weeks with no reply. She initially was helpful with trying to get the device up and running, but once I asked for a refund, she has gone silent. I teach classes on biofeedback and work in health care, so I have a network of people who listen to me about biofeedback equipment and I can promise that the sence will not be getting a recommendation from me. I can sympathize with them working out the bugs and going through a process of perfecting their product, but that’s not what I’m seeing happening. Customer service is key to any of these ventures and it looks like the sence team isn’t aware of that or is too overwhelmed with the failure of this product that they aren’t able to respond in a timely manner.
I am so disappointed in the sense band so far. I bought two of them, one arrived with a broken button and the other one does not connect to my phone easily or consistently. (both a Samsung 8 and a Samsung 9+)
I am really hoping I didn’t give away $300 dollars for 2 useless, clunky bracelets. I have emailed them twice with no reply.
Yeah unfortunately this lines up with my experience – I purchased 2 devices 1 doesn’t sync. The battery life on the other is abysmal and the app is incredibly simplistic and it feels really hard to verify the data. I feels like i wasted my money.
i got mine from kickstarter, its DOA. wont charge. reading the above its clear these guys are jokers, will complain to kickstarter and posting on their planexta FB page now.