Last month Darta Systems, a Russian-Canadian biomedical startup, launched the Emvio Watch, a gadget that “measures stress and makes everyday stress management easier ” In contrast to ordinary fitness bands, the device lets users know when they overreact to such negative situations as disagreements with people, waiting in line or bad news.
According to its maker, the device uses heart rate variability (HRV, or the time interval between pulses), super sensitive optical sensors, and a proprietary algorithm to calculate stress levels all day.
The company presents this combination and capacity as unique on the market: “No other device can perform this task because of hardware and software restrictions.”
Apple did consider including stress measurement among the Apple Watch’s functions.
“They had plans to use a skin conductance sensor in conjunction with an optical pulse sensor. But the version of watch they finally launched didn’t feature any skin conductivity sensor, which means that stress measurement is not included,” Darta Systems CEO Valeriy Kuryshev said in an exchange with East-West Digital News.
According to US media, Apple’s smartwatch has been forced to ditch these potentially coveted features due to poor performance and concerns over government interference.
A former engineer and researcher in the field of biomedicine, Kuryshev initially had the idea of
creating a gadget for measuring and controlling emotions.
“But in developing the project, I came across a stress measurement technology. It appeared to us that controlling stress was more critical for good health, so we decided to develop an appropriate instrument. We looked at the market then – about a year and a half ago – and found nothing like this,” Kuryshev said.
The project was backed by an individual investor in 2013, which allowed Emvio to conduct R&D, develop the models and test the software and hardware technologies at the heart of the product.
Emvio is the brainchild of a Russian team and a Canadian partner who organized a crowdfunding campaign.
The campaign did not go as well as planned. “We tried to make it an honest crowdfunding, with the 250,000-Canadian dollar target reflecting our real needs for starting production of 1,000 pieces. Usually projects set more modest goals, which essentially correspond to a fraction of the real cost – covering the PR campaign, for instance,” explained Kuryshev.
After the project collected a mere 24,395 Canadian dollars – perhaps due to insufficient media coverage – Emvio cancelled the campaign.
The startup, which will soon open an international sales office in Canada, is considering developping B2B sales. “We are in discussions with insurance companies and consulting firms,” Kuryshev noted.
