Most of us are familiar with stress and accept the fact that everyday stress is a part of life. Modern life is full of hassles, deadlines, frustrations and demands. While some amount of stress allows us to reach new goals, a majority of us have a hard time managing stress. Chronic stress can raise blood pressure, increase vulnerability to anxiety and depression, contribute to health ailments, and even hasten the aging process.
A recent client of EBV helps individuals and organizations deal with stress by coaching them on mindfulness and turn stress into a positive contributor to life achievement. Mindfulness has been associated with reduced stress and overall greater well-being in practitioners.
In our engagement, SimyLife presented a unique challenge by conceiving a device that brings the benefits of stress relief to patients outside of the coaching and training sessions. The device needed to monitor stress levels and also act as a gaming controller while performing various stress relieving exercises. These stress relieving exercises implemented mindfulness and relaxation techniques. Complicating the design further was the need to collect stress related information and use the data to algorithmically suggest relaxation techniques. More important than the technical feasibility, SimyLife stakeholders had a vision for the device to be simple, easy to use and of a compact size.
EBV thankfully has a roster of experts and a seamless portfolio of vendors that were harnessed to bring the concept to life as SimyBall. From the basic prototyping to final cloud based deployments the process was, shall we say, stress-free. After several trial and error considerations, the final solution manifested as a spherical bio-sensory orb that doubled as a mobile game controller. The controller had functionality to monitor vital signs like body temperature, pulse, skin temperature etc. and afforded feedback to a gaming experience. Features to protect user privacy and adhere to regulatory compliance were incorporated while simultaneously allowing for extensibility and 3rd party game development. Interested parties can get this device since November 2017 through the Kickstarter crowdfunding program.
Click here to learn more about SimyBall and EBV’s contribution to the product development process.
