WELT connects to a smartphone app via Bluetooth. (Courtesy of WELT)
As a doctor with experience in both a hospital and in Korea’s Ministry of Health, Dr. Sean (Sungjee) Kang saw evidence of obesity, poor posture, inactivity, and overeating. He wanted to develop a wearable technology that could help, but he was unsatisfied with wrist-worn solutions.
From 2014 to 2016, Kang worked as a creative leader at Samsung, where he developed an idea for a smart belt within the company’s internal, incubator, the Creative Lab. That product, called WELT for “wellness belt,” has sensors and an accelerometer embedded within the buckle of a leather belt that can track waist circumference, posture, gait analysis, and movement. If someone overeats or is sitting for more than an hour, the wearer is notified via a bluetooth connection to a smartphone app.
Kang likens the belt to a car’s GPS system, saying, “The belt is gathering the information for people’s health navigation.”
WELT appeared in CES’ startup section, Eureka Park, back in 2016 but will make its formal debut in Jan. 2019 with a big booth and, Kang hinted, with an as-yet-unnamed French apparel brand. In October, Kang was invited to the Élysée Palace for a state dinner where he presented French president Emmanuel Macron and Korean president Moon Jae-in with WELTs.
Left to right: Symaps CEO Mickael Mas, French president Emmanuel Macron, Korean president Moon Jae-in, WELT CEO Sean Kang. (Courtesy of WELT)
Samsung Ventures offered seed funding to WELT, which more than doubled its Kickstarter goal by raising $72,964 and also received investment from Born2Global, an entrepreneurial agency within the Korean Ministry of Science.
WELT is already gaining popularity in Korea and Japan. (WELT is also available in Amazon’s U.S. store, although it hasn’t been marketed.) The product—billed as the world’s first smart belt for health care—has won awards from the Korean Medical Academic Association as well as from Good Design and Wadiz, a Korean crowdfunding competition.
WELT’s emphasis has currently been on men’s health for the simple reason that fewer women wear belts. There could be future uses in a sports setting, although for now it’s suited more for office workers.
Kang said the module design can easily be adapted for belts of any kind. The buckle’s orientation and location provide at least one clear advantage over a watch or band.
“The belt is always facing the front,” Kang said. “That means the axes are aligned every time you wear it, so we can find out people’s posture very accurately [more] than the wrist-type wearable.”
WELT is also working on software algorithms that can benefit the elderly, both in fall detection and prevention. Kang said certain changes in gait speed and frequency could signal the risk of a fall.
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