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Japanese toiletries manufacturer Sunstar to introduce smart toothbrush attachment

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See the original story in Japanese. Japanese leading toiletries manufacturer Sunstar has recently developed a smart device attachment to a toothbrush on a prototyping basis, called G.U.M Play. The device has a motion sensor that detects the motion of the toothbrush, and transfers data to mobile apps via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). There will be three mobile apps available supporting the attachment device: “Mouth Band” plays music while users brush their teeth “Mouth News” reads aloud news stories while users brush their teeth “Mouth Monster” is an educational app for children while they brush their teeth All these apps record transversal motions and how much time spent upon brushing. Sunstar says it will adopt more advanced sensing technologies, planning to introduce  the product to market later this year. Meanwhile, Proctor & Gamble (P&G) announced at the Mobile World Congress 2014 last July that it would introduce Bluetooth 4.0-enabled Oral-B interactive electric toothbrush. The P&G product is already available in stores. Compared to the new Oral-B toothbrush, G.U.M Play will likely cost less because the latter is an attachment device rather than a toothbrush. More devices designed for synchronization with smartphones in acquiring data are seen appearing. While this trend will be further enhanced so that more things will be enabled, the key…

gum-play_featuredimage

See the original story in Japanese.

Japanese leading toiletries manufacturer Sunstar has recently developed a smart device attachment to a toothbrush on a prototyping basis, called G.U.M Play.

The device has a motion sensor that detects the motion of the toothbrush, and transfers data to mobile apps via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE).

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There will be three mobile apps available supporting the attachment device:

  • “Mouth Band” plays music while users brush their teeth
  • “Mouth News” reads aloud news stories while users brush their teeth
  • “Mouth Monster” is an educational app for children while they brush their teeth

All these apps record transversal motions and how much time spent upon brushing. Sunstar says it will adopt more advanced sensing technologies, planning to introduce  the product to market later this year.

Meanwhile, Proctor & Gamble (P&G) announced at the Mobile World Congress 2014 last July that it would introduce Bluetooth 4.0-enabled Oral-B interactive electric toothbrush. The P&G product is already available in stores. Compared to the new Oral-B toothbrush, G.U.M Play will likely cost less because the latter is an attachment device rather than a toothbrush.

More devices designed for synchronization with smartphones in acquiring data are seen appearing. While this trend will be further enhanced so that more things will be enabled, the key is how device developers can offer the experience that users really need.

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Translated by Kenji Hayakawa via Conyac crowdsourced translation service
Edited by Masaru Ikeda and “Tex” Pomeroy