Nintendo's next gadget to track, improve sleep patterns
Following earlier reports that Nintendo had plans to join the health-monitoring industry, company president Satoru Iwata has revealed that the gaming giant is currently developing a device to track a user's sleep patterns and encourage them toward more healthy, restful sleep.
"Since fatigue per se is not regarded as a disease in the medical world, it is said to be a field where sufficient research has yet to be conducted," Iwata stated. "We have been fortunate to encounter several experts who have been conducting cutting-edge research in the science of fatigue. Together, we are now developing technology to estimate fatigue."
The unnamed device, which is currently being developed in cooperation with medical device manufacturer ResMed Inc., is "about the size of a hand and can be placed on a user's bedside table," according to Reuters. It uses microwave sensors to track the length and quality of a user's sleep cycles, then collects that data and sends it to applications which can then help users develop better sleep habits.
There's currently no release date for Nintendo's sleep monitor, though Iwata hopes to have it available to the public at some point during the 2015 financial year.
[Image: Nintendo]
