Copyright © Françoise Herrmann
Why an IoT* connected hairbrush? Because hair has plenty to do with health. Indeed, this is precisely the reason why Withings, a French consumer electronics company specialized in health devices, has designed a connected hairbrush, in collaboration with Kérastase, a French company specialized in hair care products.
Hair factors such as dryness, lackluster, brittleness, dry scalp, thinning, excess shedding, and premature graying are all indicators of health that may send you promptly to see a physician. Such factors, especially hair loss, are also tightly bound to self-image, confidence and mood (Dhami, 2021). As a result, thanks to a variety of advanced sensors, the award-winning** Withings connected hairbrush was designed to provide users a host of insights on hair quality, manageability and brushing technique. Personalized information on how to improve and optimize hair care that the user then receives on a Withings app.
The patent discloses a hairstyling tool, equipped with a variety of sensors (movement, gyroscope, optical, tilt, force, electric field, humidity and temperature), a camera, LED lights, and a microphone, together able to collect data on styling gestures, vibration and friction data, magnified scalp and hair data. The hairstyling tool has further means to transmit the collected data via Bluetooth or Wifi, to a smartphone or directly to a server, where the raw, or pre-processed data collected is analyzed, relative to a database of hair/scalp data and the user’s own history. In turn, the hairbrush will provide analysis and feedback to the user via smartphone app.
Specifically, the patent Figure 1, included below, depicts a hairstyling tool 10, comprising a handle or “grip” 11, a body 12, bristles 17, and a transition region 13, between the handle 11, and the body 12. The handle 11 comprises a battery 8 for powering the electronic and electric components of the hairstyling tool 10. The body 12 comprises an electronic control unit 4. The electronic control unit comprises a controller for processing the input/output sensor data, the camera and microphone data. The electronic control unit also comprises a clock to time-stamp data, and a memory for recording raw or pre-processed data collected during hairstyling, prior to sending data to a smartphone or server.
The accelerator and force sensors enable to measure the speed and regularity of hairstyling gestures, as well as the rotation of the brush during gestures, the length of the curve followed from top to bottom of scalp, and the time taken to travel the curve. Thus, the hairbrush measures the variable resistances encountered during hairstyling gestures, assumed to indicate health and/or deficiencies of the hair. The patent Figure 1 further depicts the three dimensional axes X (longitudinal), Y (transverse) and Z (radial) used by the accelerometer and gyroscopes to respectively measure linear accelerations on each of the orthogonal planes, and rotational movement on and about the three orthogonal directions X, Y and Z.
Below, the abstract of the invention is also included, together with an above image of the elegant connected hairbrush and smartphone app.
Hairstyling tool of the comb or hairbrush type, comprising a handle and a body, an electric battery a force sensor, an electronic unit configured to capture and format signals provided by the sensors, a wireless communication means for transmitting data to a remote entity, by means of which information about the movements executed by the tool and the forces it undergoes can be transmitted to the remote entity, the remote entity being able to send information back to the user of the tool about the hair being styled. (Abstract US10426397B2)
References
Dhami, L. (2021). Psychology of hair loss patients and importance of counseling. Indian Journal of Plastic Surgery. Dec 31;54(4):411-415.
doi: 10.1055/s-0041-1741037. PMID: 34984078; PMCID: PMC8719979.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8719979/
Goetzman, A. (Sept. 12, 2023). Mark Weiser and the Origins of the Internet of Things. Connector Supplier™.
If Design Award 2017 - Withings smart hair brush. If Design.
https://ifdesign.com/en/winner-ranking/project/withings-smart-hairbrush/203749
Kérastase (website)
https://www.kerastase-usa.com/
Withings (website)
https://www.withings.com/us/en/
https://connectorsupplier.com/mark-weiser-and-the-origins-of-the-internet-of-things/
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