Samsung will show three exciting projects being worked on by C-Lab, its secretive in-house workshop, at CES 2016. It’ll be the first time Samsung will publicly demonstrate the innovative technology that’s being created inside C-Lab. The company has singled out three projects it feels will make the right impact at the Las Vegas event — the WELT fitness belt, the Rink VR controller, and TipTalk, which is a new way to hear sounds generated by a mobile device.
WELT looks exactly like a regular leather belt, but it does more than simply hold up your pants. Inside is a sensor array that gives it fitness band functionality — such as counting your steps, and measuring the amount of time you spend sitting down — plus a waistband tracker, to see if you’ll need to use another notch in the near future. Like a fitness band, the WELT operates with a special app that contains weight management plans, food trackers, and a place to view the collected data.
TipTalk is the weirdest of Samsung’s C-Lab innovations at CES. It’s a smart watch strap that turns your finger into a speaker only you can hear. How it works is a mystery for now, but it connects up to a watch or phone, then transmits audio through your digit when you touch your ear. Apparently, this increases clarity, particularly in noisy environments, and minimizes the chances of being overheard. It’ll definitely be one for us to try out at the show.
Finally, there’s Rink, which sounds a little like a Nintendo Wii controller for virtual reality headsets. Samsung calls it an “advanced hand-motion controller,” and says the strap-like device can be used to control games or navigate menus when using a VR headset, providing a deeper degree of immersion.
These are just three out of the 100-plus projects being worked on inside Samsung’s C-Lab, which is designed to help Samsung employees bring their innovative business ideas to life, and staff are even given time off from their regular Samsung jobs to work on their idea, if the project is really promising. We’ll bring you more about Samsung’s C-Lab projects from CES 2016.
