If you've ever used a nutrition app or kept a food diary to track things like protein intake or calories, you'll know how cumbersome the process can be. That's where the first automated food-logging wearable comes in, gathering all the nutritional data without requiring any effort from you.
The Drop may sort of resemble an odd metal nose, but it's actually more like a set of eyes, tracking your every move when it comes to food. It promises to take the laborious work out of nutrition tracking – which is one of the key reasons people give up manual logging and bounce between phases of consistency and dietary free-fall.
The Drop's key feature is its camera, which uses advanced computer vision and AI to automatically detect food intake. It intermittently snaps photos and processes the images through AI – with the images deleted soon after, to secure the wearer's privacy. When it detects food or drinks in its field of view, the smart 4K AI camera takes more photos and assesses the user's interaction with the items. These images are then submitted to the wearer's smartphone, where further cloud analysis takes place.
"By introducing The Drop, we aim to create a new category of wearables – nutrition trackers – similar to fitness trackers and smartwatches," co-founder Rangel Milushev explains. "Our vision is to empower users to effortlessly take control of their nutrition and health."
When engaged, the 27.6-g (0.97-oz) device – which can be attached to clothes with a magnetic clasp, or worn around the neck – analyzes the gathered images to determine what and how much as been eaten by its wearer. Once the ingredients have been picked out of a database, they're cross-referenced with existing data to provide accurate calorie, protein, carbohydrate and fat breakdowns. Of course, being based on machine learning, The Drop's 'brains' will continue to develop based on the data its fed, making it more accurate and personalized as time passes.
While we haven't got our hands on one of these (yet – expect a review in the not-too-distant future) The Drop is the automated progression from their earlier landmark release of Nutribot by Rex.fit, which would analyze nutritional values of meals via a photo or recipe/food details submitted to the app. The team says this new device is 92% accurate, and has a 16-hour battery charge, but we are nonetheless curious as to its ability to assess meals that aren't 'burger and fries' or those that have many hidden components to their nutritional profile. (For example, will it detect meat alternatives that are now very convincing at looking just like the real animal product?)
The team stresses that this isn't just a calorie counter but can essentially be a health coach for whatever your goals are – be it to lose weight, optimize your eating for working out, or simply to get your diet into more balanced territory. The accompanying app, which does not require any subscriptions unlike most smartphone nutrition technology, will then offer personalized recipes, meal plans and workout suggestions, and provide important feedback to help you out – without any of the messing around with logging information yourself.
"We are actively working on the Rex Premium App, with the design phase now complete and the AI component fully developed," the team notes on their Kickstarter campaign page. "The AI assistant goes beyond basic calorie tracking and macro management by offering personalized meal plans and dietary improvement suggestions."
The app will be rolled out for Android and iOS and is planned for final release in July 2025, with beta testing kicking off soon.
He's a quick rundown of the tech specs:
- Processor: Dual-core, 32-bit processor that operates at up to 240 MHz.
- Wireless: Complete 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi subsystem, BLE: Bluetooth 5.0, Bluetooth mesh.
- Sensors: 4K camera, microphone.
- Memory: On-chip 8M PSRAM & 8MB Flash, Onboard SD Card Slot, supporting 32GB FAT.
- Supported Frameworks: Compatible with ONNX runtime and tflite.
- Development Languages: Support for languages such as Python and C++.
- APIs and Libraries: Provides APIs for sensor data access, communication interfaces, and hardware control.
It'll still be a little while until backers can give up their food diaries or logging apps – delivery is expected in the fourth quarter of 2025, but the team has grand plans for The Drop, wanting to also incorporate other health markers such as exercise logging, to be a one-stop lifestyle-tracking shop.
The campaign has just launched on Kickstarter, where three colors are available – carbon black, metallic blue and gold. The pack will also include a leather band, USB-C to USB-A charging cable, magnetic pin, and a lifetime subscription to the Rex app. One unit will set you back US$199, with a twin-pack starting at $349.
The Drop will be shipped anywhere in the world, however, buyers in the US and Canada will have it shipped for free and customs fees will be waived. Those in other regions can expect to pay an extra $10-$50, so check the Kickstarter page for more info. It also comes with a two-year warranty.
While, like we said, we're eagerly awaiting testing one of these out – but we're excited by the prospect of never having to scan a barcode or log 20 ingredients in a serve of home-made soup ever again. This is another job I'm personally happy for AI to 'steal.'
Source: Kickstarter
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