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Japan’s wearable startup LogBar unveils ‘ili’ translator pendant at CES 2016

Masaru Ikeda Masaru Ikeda
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See the original story in Japanese. The creator of the Ring wearable device, Silicon Valley- / Tokyo-based startup LogBar, has just unveiled a new product called ‘iLi‘ at CES 2016 in Las Vegas. The iLi is a pendant worn around the neck that will translate between English, Japanese, and Chinese. Thanks to a built-in engine for speech recognition/synthesis and translation, Wi-Fi or other Internet connections are not needed to use iLi. The device has a button on its surface, which looks like the fingerprint sensor design on the iPhone. Users have to push it before speaking so that the device can recognize their speech and synthesize its translated result. The product price has not been announced, but it is said to be “affordable” as it opens up for pre-orders in March or April. The second version of iLi will handle French, Thai, and Korean, and the third version will add Spanish, Italian, and Arabic options. In addition to product sales, LogBar is exploring establishing a business network leveraging the device as a business model. The company may partner with travel agencies, hotels, transport operators, and car rental services, which cater to tourists and business travelers. Since the device specs have…

ili_featuredimage

See the original story in Japanese.

The creator of the Ring wearable device, Silicon Valley- / Tokyo-based startup LogBar, has just unveiled a new product called ‘iLi‘ at CES 2016 in Las Vegas. The iLi is a pendant worn around the neck that will translate between English, Japanese, and Chinese. Thanks to a built-in engine for speech recognition/synthesis and translation, Wi-Fi or other Internet connections are not needed to use iLi.

The device has a button on its surface, which looks like the fingerprint sensor design on the iPhone. Users have to push it before speaking so that the device can recognize their speech and synthesize its translated result. The product price has not been announced, but it is said to be “affordable” as it opens up for pre-orders in March or April. The second version of iLi will handle French, Thai, and Korean, and the third version will add Spanish, Italian, and Arabic options. In addition to product sales, LogBar is exploring establishing a business network leveraging the device as a business model. The company may partner with travel agencies, hotels, transport operators, and car rental services, which cater to tourists and business travelers.

Since the device specs have yet to be unveiled, it is uncertain whether or not the device is technically possible, or just vaporware. However, this is definitely the thing that turns ‘Honyaku Konyaku’ or translation jelly, a popular Sci-Fi gadget seen in the Doraemon Japanese comic series, into a reality. Following Jeplan which has recently developed the real De Lorean dream car from the Back to the Future movie, we are looking forward to the success of a Japanese startup attempting to turn Sci-Fi gadgets into a reality.

Edited by Kurt Hanson

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Third time’s the charm? Japan’s Logbar to ship Ring control device on October 9

Yuki Kai Yuki Kai
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Ring is a device worn on a finger that gives users the ability to control and interact with other devices. Logbar, the company behind the device, announced that it will start shipping the Ring on October 9. See also: As Ring meets its Kickstarter goal, we wonder — Is it just vaporware? How does Ring actually work? The company attracted some $880,000 in funding from more than 5,000 backers via a Kickstarter campaign. They had planned to start shipping the device in July, but postponed the date to August. The schedule was postponed once again to September as they changed the device’s design and added a button. The company’s e-mail to the Kickstarter campaign backers on September 29 states that the shipping date is now set for October 9. However, the date is the actual shipping day, so the Ring will probably reach the backers’ fingers by late October. via DMM.make

ring_featuredimage

Ring is a device worn on a finger that gives users the ability to control and interact with other devices. Logbar, the company behind the device, announced that it will start shipping the Ring on October 9.

See also:

The company attracted some $880,000 in funding from more than 5,000 backers via a Kickstarter campaign. They had planned to start shipping the device in July, but postponed the date to August. The schedule was postponed once again to September as they changed the device’s design and added a button.

realring

The company’s e-mail to the Kickstarter campaign backers on September 29 states that the shipping date is now set for October 9. However, the date is the actual shipping day, so the Ring will probably reach the backers’ fingers by late October.

via DMM.make

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  3. Ring_Usecase_image01 As Ring meets its Kickstarter goal, we wonder — Is it just vaporware?

As Ring meets its Kickstarter goal, we wonder — Is it just vaporware?

Rick Martin Rick Martin
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Many of our readers may have read over on TechCrunch recently that ‘Ring,’ a hardware device that ostensibly gives you the ability to control devices when worn on your finger, has been funded via a Kickstarter project. The device previously took top honors at the 2013 TechCrunch Tokyo Startup Battle. But despite that achievement, I continue to encounter skeptics who think that Ring might be little more than vaporware at this stage – or at the very least, that it its makers have a big challenge ahead if they hope to bring it to market. Personally, I really hope that Ring is every bit as good as it looks. But I thought I’d ask the folks at LogBar, the startup behind the device if I could perhaps get a demo of Ring. A representative told me via email that they plan to attend the upcoming Wearable Tech Expo in Tokyo where they will speak on stage, but they’re undecided whether they will do a demo or not. I asked if they could explain more about how their battery works 1, but the company has yet to reply on this point. Our readers may recall that we have previously featured another…

Ring_Usecase_image01

Many of our readers may have read over on TechCrunch recently that ‘Ring,’ a hardware device that ostensibly gives you the ability to control devices when worn on your finger, has been funded via a Kickstarter project.

The device previously took top honors at the 2013 TechCrunch Tokyo Startup Battle. But despite that achievement, I continue to encounter skeptics who think that Ring might be little more than vaporware at this stage – or at the very least, that it its makers have a big challenge ahead if they hope to bring it to market.

Personally, I really hope that Ring is every bit as good as it looks. But I thought I’d ask the folks at LogBar, the startup behind the device if I could perhaps get a demo of Ring. A representative told me via email that they plan to attend the upcoming Wearable Tech Expo in Tokyo where they will speak on stage, but they’re undecided whether they will do a demo or not. I asked if they could explain more about how their battery works 1, but the company has yet to reply on this point.

Our readers may recall that we have previously featured another wearable ring device, Ringu, made by the folks at Keio University’s Mixed Reality Lab. I asked Dr. Adrian Cheok (of Keio University’s MRL and City University London) about the challenges they faced in finding a battery for their ring, and he explained:

From my experience it seems very very tough to fit everything in their ring size and also the battery. We searched almost every manufacturer and we found the minimum size of rechargeable battery was about 1.5 to 2cm for anything that can last for a few hours for our Bluetooth haptic ring.

It’s possible that the folks at LogBar could find some advanced technology that would do the trick, but he remains somewhat doubtful.

The Ring project is a very ambitious one, and I do hope the folks at LogBar can succeed. But ultimately I think that excitement over its potential should be held in check until we see a working demo at least. So far we’ve seen some impressive promotional material, a blurry video, and not too much else.

As for the other Ring project, Ringu, from Keio’s Mixed Reality Lab, they’re gearing up for their own launch event upcoming on April 9th at Sparklabs Global Demo Day, which will be held in Seoul.

  1. I inquired with the company yesterday afternoon. ↩

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