Industrial Technology Research Institute

PECOLA and iStimUweaR Both Named CES 2020 Innovation Awards Honorees

ITRI, Taiwan's largest and one of the world's leading high-tech applied research institutions, won two CES 2020 Innovation Awards, including its PECOLA (Personal Companion Robot for Older People Living Alone) in the Smart Home category and iStimUweaR in Wearable Technologies. The annual CES Innovation Awards program honors outstanding product design and engineering in consumer technology products. This year’s honorees include leading companies such as Bosch, Garmin, and HP.

“ITRI has won CES Innovation Awards for the third consecutive year. Winning the awards highlights ITRI's focus on market-driven R&D, while displaying its extraordinary innovation capability and the economic value that it generates,” said ITRI President Edwin Liu. He indicated that ITRI’s PECOLA robot is able to identify and analyze living conditions for seniors, and employs a video-based fall detection technology, which will send notification for assistance when a person takes a tumble. Another winning technology iStimUweaR is a hybrid smart wearable system used for clothing that provides transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) to enhance the wearer’s blood circulation and relieve muscle pain. iStimUweaR garments are comfortable to wear and are washable. “Both honorees leverage ICT technologies to create value-added systems/services that address the user needs. They are great examples of hardware-software integration and multi-disciplinary innovation,” Dr. Liu stressed.

PECOLA

ITRI's PECOLA employs ambient intelligence technology in caring for its elderly companions, making sure they are eating and sleeping well and are in good health and spirits. The robot also compiles information and sends it to the children of these individuals to help spark topics of discussion and bolster communication between them. PECOLA uses image recognition to record food portion change and carry out diet analysis to understand the individual's food intake. PECOLA also uses a WiFi signal in detecting one’s breathing rate during sleep. What's more, it utilizes deep learning technology to detect falls. Once a fall is detected, the robot immediately dials the individual's children and initiates a two-way video session, helping to improve safety in the home. A daily analysis report that includes the above physiological information will be generated and sent to family members’ mobile phones so that they can learn the seniors’ emotion, activity, diet, and sleep conditions. PECOLA continues to integrate third-party services, such as entertainment and social activities for the elderly, as well as functions to foster convenience, smart living, and healthcare.

iStimUweaR

Many people turn to TENS treatments to relax muscles and temporarily relieve pain. Directing an appropriate current into the body can help stimulate the nervous system, relax muscle, and relieve soreness and discomfort. ITRI's iStimUweaR is a health-assisting system that integrates TENS to fabrics. A mobile application analyzes the body state of the wearer and can provide low-voltage electric currents via the clothes. The system eliminates the need to deal with wires and traditional electrical pads and is of great help in soothing one's muscle pain.

ITRI will be showcasing nine tech innovations at Booth #25620 in the AI & Robotics section at CES 2020 in Las Vegas from January 7 to 10, 2020. The exhibition will offer an interactive experience for a variety of scenarios, demonstrating ITRI’s abilities in developing intelligent systems and innovative applications.