If you’re familiar with all those wearing tech gadgets that constantly monitor your health, give fitting tips, measure sleep quality and do many other things, then the arrival of Safe Spacer is probably not a surprise. The device, created by IK Multimedia, a company known for products such as ARC System 3 or the iRig series of music creation tools for use with iPhone, iPad, Android and Mac/PC is a wearable social distance monitor created to help the musical instrument industry and many others to reopen and operate safely.
A lightweight wearable device that is simple to use, Safe Spacer uses Ultra-wideband (UWB), the same technology introduced in the latest devices like Apple’s iPhone 11, to achieve precise ranging between devices. The device runs wirelessly on a rechargeable battery and precisely senses when other devices come within 2m/6ft, alerting wearers with a choice of visual, vibrating or audio alarm.
Existing UWB solutions generally need an anchor unit to precisely monitor position. Safe Spacer, though, uses an innovative infrastructure-less system, and features a patent-pending algorithm that works immediately out of the box, with no set-up or special infrastructure needed and can be comfortably worn on a wristband, with a lanyard, or carried in a pocket. It offers ultra-precise measurement down to 10cm/4’’ – ten times more accurate than Bluetooth applications.
Safe Spacer uses a sophisticated machine-learning algorithm to track not just other units’ location, but also how they are moving in the space. So it’s able to anticipate contacts and alert users before they happen, even if they’re not paying attention. Each Safe Spacer also features a unique ID tag and built-in memory that can be optionally associated to workers’ names for tracing any unintentional contact, to keep organizations and their employees secure. To maintain the highest standard of privacy, no data other than the Safe Spacer ID and proximity is stored.
For advanced use, set-up and monitoring in workspaces, an iOS/Android app is also available to allow human resources or safety departments to associate IDs to specific workers, log daily tracing without collecting sensitive data, configure the alarms, set custom distance and alert thresholds, export log data and more. This is probably good news and a solution that the Media and Entertainment industry may adopt, as crews get back to work, even if there is no foreseen cure or vaccine available for Covid-19. Being able to contact trace people and rapidly take measures if there is an outbreak may help the industry safely re-open and operate with peace of mind.
Safe Spacer’s enclosure was engineered for easy cleaning and disinfection between usages, so it’s ideal for spaces open to the public, or businesses with visiting personnel. And it syncs to devices wirelessly via NFC contactless technology or Bluetooth, minimizing the need to handle units.
Safe Spacer will be available in early Q3 directly from IK Multimedia for $/€99.99 (excluding taxes), with volume discounts available.