Smart ring provides a voice in your ear at the touch of a hand

Record ID: 905481

  • Title: Smart ring provides a voice in your ear at the touch of a hand
  • Date: 4th August 2017
  • Summary: HONG KONG, CHINA (AUGUST 3, 2017) (REUTERS) MAN TOUCHING HIS EAR WITH SMART RING ON FINGER SMART RING ON MAN'S FINGER
  • Embargoed: 18th August 2017 10:37
  • Keywords: Wearable technology smart ring smart phone visually impaired accessibility bone conduction
  • Location: HONG KONG, CHINA
  • City: HONG KONG, CHINA
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Information Technologies / Computer Sciences,Science
  • Reuters ID: LVA0016SQODI3
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:A voice in your ear at the touch of a hand?
    The Orii ring allows people to take phone calls, handle text messages and interact with a phone's digital assistant, all by transferring sound to a user's ear through bone conduction.
    The wearable device connects to smartphones using Bluetooth.
    The ring, designed by Hong Kong-based start-up Origami Labs, was inspired by Peter Wong, the visually impaired father of the firm's co-founder Kevin Wong.
    "As a visually impaired person, I rely on the software on the smartphone to read the icons, the texts to me," said Peter Wong, who is a technical adviser for the ring.
    A key feature ensures that only the user can hear the information conveyed by the ring.
    "Can you imagine it reading out your password? That's inconvenient and inappropriate," Peter Wong said.
    What began as a Kickstarter project has become the latest example of wearable, screen-free technology.
    "We want to keep our heads up, we want to be able to stay more in the moment," said Kevin Wong, 29, who set up Origami Labs in November 2015 with three friends from university.
    The tech wearable market grew 51 percent in Asia last year, according to consumer research firm GfK. The overall industry is expected to be worth $34 billion globally by 2020, research provider CCS Insight has said.
    The Orii ring is expected to reach the commercial market by February.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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