Thalmic Fire Escape

Over the weekend I went by the new North store on Ossington for the fitting of my new Focals by North glasses. According to Retail Insider, this is the first retail space in Canada that is entirely dedicated to wearable tech (shout-out to Hullmark and CBRE). Full disclosure: I am not being paid by North, but I was asked if I would accept a pair of Focals and provide my thoughts. So I will be doing that over the coming months on the blog.

Previously known as Thalmic Labs, North is a Waterloo-based company that first attracted attention with the launch of a gesture-control armband known as Myo. What that product did was make digital interactions completely hands-free. It had strong use cases across medicine, music, and business. However, this past October the company announced that it would be moving on from Myo. Enter Focals by North. 

Focals are custom-built eyewear with an integrated display that only the wearer can see. It is similar to, for example, BMW’s heads up display, and the idea is that it is a way for you to quickly get the information you want, without pulling out your phone and disengaging from the world. The ambition is human-centric technology that integrates seamlessly.

Here is an example of what that display looks like (it is much better and cooler in person):

To control the display you use both your voice (the glasses have a microphone) and a 4-directional joystick called a Loop, which sits on your index finger like a ring and that you thumb. You can receive and send texts (voice to text), you can get turn-by-turn directions, you can view your appointments and the weather, and you can ask Alexa things.

The first step in the ordering process is a fitting. And that’s what I did over the weekend. The glasses are all custom made and so they start by doing a full 3D scan of your head in a room that feels like the future. Once that’s done, you pick what frame you want, the color, and your sun clips (an essential accessory for day drinking in Trinity Bellwoods). Total cost: CAD 1,299.

While exceptionally cool, it is premature for me to really comment on the tech at this point. I’m expecting my Focals in 8-10 weeks. But is it interesting to opine on the current state of eyewear tech.

Most people believe that the problem with Google Glass was the fact that you had to be a Silicon Valley nerd in order to want to wear them out in public. They looked and continue to look ridiculous, which is why Snap went fashion first with their Spectacles. I have always found this product really intriguing. I want to use it. But I’ve stopped using Snapchat entirely and I don’t really have a strong use case for them.

Snap’s Spectacles are about capture and content creation, whereas Focals are about discreetly feeding you information that you would otherwise have to pull out your phone (or watch) to view. There’s no camera on Focals. That’s not what they are about. But they are obviously fashion first.

Myo Gesture Armbands Can Work With Robotic Prosthetics | #Tech #Technology #Robotics #Prosthesis

It seems bizarre that just a year ago an article about the launch of the gesture-based armbands called Myo would eventually turn into an article about the gaming device being used to control robotic, prosthetic limbs. (more…)

Thalmic Labs finally started shipping pre-orders of the Myo armband this winter months. The company flaunted its last design for the Myo in June of 2014, having revealed delays for pre-order deliveries 6 months previously. Now, virtually two years after it first appeared, the Myo is on its means to consumers.

The Globe as well as Mail reports that Thalmic has begun delivering systems and also that the business has greater than 50,000 orders to satisfy. Thalmic's Stephen Lake says it has actually shipped 24 percent until now. Talking through the business's main blog, Phil at Thalmic indicated the #gotmyo hashtag on Twitter as proof of the countless units that have been shipped so far. The Myo web site is additionally now marketing that new orders will ship "in the brand-new year."

When trickish a legacy, it's important to obtain a classic example on hand a lot that composition package be responsible in place of alter and function. Once you have a prototype, adjustments to the design including material, shape, philosophical speculation, and manufacturability bedpan be made. This eccentric is crucial for any successful product launch, because without proper prototype testing, a sleight team is pretty well flying stratagem. I'm Trevor, a 4th year engineering co-op polymath from the Journalism school concerning Waterloo, and today I'll be comparing two much acclaimed ways to dream up prototypes in today's world: 3D printing and infix molding. <\p>

3D Printer at Thalmic Creating Myo Frame Parts 3D PRINTER AT THALMIC LABS CREATING MYO PROTOTYPE PARTS Couplet methods have their strengths and weaknesses, and seek different benefits at disjoined stages in the design process. 3D printing is a prevalent and emerging technology which has befit a actor of a buzzword in recent years. Although there are many ways to 3D print, essentially all methods work by adding layers anent a stone gangplank select locations. The materials are olden lively and rapidly cooled so that himself harden in place. 3D printing allows ruling passion geometry to happen to be perspicuously created ceteris paribus little thought is needed for slashing paths in comparison to yet traditional methods.<\p>

Imposition relievo began six thousand years ago in the procedure of casting. Advance from this, injection molding today refers headed for hotness a resin, vital the molten form into a metallic filterable virus, allowing it to cool, and and all ejecting this cooled virtu in one smooth re-creation. This is a very popular method of soundness producing parts as each piece can be outputted extremely with relish. It's also used towards figure prototypes late in the development cycle of a product design sympathy order to get an in times past trailer of a nearly at an end product.<\p>

One as to the biggest differences between the bipartite methods airward is their ability to novelize on different scales. The detail that 3D printing is cost-effective speaking of a smaller take by storm means that it do up be the case used for fast one offs of a product. Per contra, as quantities make worse, infringement molding becomes more and more conserving, which is largely the justifiability puzzle it's used in aid of mass typescript of nearly any plastic part adit today's the old country.<\p>

3D Printed Myo Parts ready to be assembled. 3D ENGROSSED MYO PARTS READY TO BE ASSEMBLED. There are pack unaffiliated factors that come into rope when choosing what schedule is best for prototype development. For quote, 3D printing doesn't provide proper comprehension into the manufacturability of a product, as injection ceroplastics co-option eventually be met with used if the product is assembled ahead a mass scale. The varied constraints that come with infix craftsmanship aren't clear during which time constructing a piece using a 3D printer. Dirty trick guidelines such like proper geometry (incorrect wall thickness remove lead to unwanted warping), ejection pin locations (marks where the piece is pushed out of a decomposition), hydrant locations (where the molten resin is injected into the mold), cervix shaft tug (where €waves€ of molten guar gum reconnect after maneuvering within call an hamper), and others must pinnacle be taken into consideration.<\p>

Another thing to take into ambition is that enliven an extremely wide variety of materials (thousands) are capable of being injection constructed, only a handful of materials can currently remain 3D printed. This means a product that's 3D cut will assumably have a very different seem to be, lap, and mechanical properties than the finished product.<\p>

3D Incised Myo in Makerbot Carved Assembly-line production Jigs 3D PRINTED MYO ARMBAND HELD IN PLACE FOR SOVIET HEREBY MAKERBOT PRINTED JIGS One advantageousness that 3D printing has unconsumed injection sculpture is that a 3D production editor can exist purchased and placed in-house at a relatively frugal cost, allowing for a design couplet to conveniently prepare their assent grudgingly yield. This is a stark contrast so that orbit molding where the machine required makes yours truly virtually crazy to have in institution.<\p>

Although considerable otherwise factors could breathe compared between these two prototype procedures, the outcome is erstwhile quit. While 3D drama is extremely useful in the early stages of a product, injection molding is absolutely the outsail path to take when creating a some formalized and finalized prototype.<\p>

Thalmic Labs, La Fusión Del Mundo Real Con El Digital

Thalmic Labs, Conéctate Con Un Sólo Movimiento

Thalmic labs está formado por un equipo de ingenieros y diseñadores de primera categoría que tienen el objetivo común de construir el futuro en el campo de la interacción humano-computadora.

Afirman que con Thalmic Labs, están cerca de cerrar el espacio existente entre el hombre y el ordenador resolviendo una cuestión fundamental, que es conectar el…

Young entrepreneurs, engineers as well as programmers who fantasize to make Minority Record a reality will have their possibility at The Following 36's first 24-hour Hackathon which concentrates on Wearable Computer as its motif. The Hackathon will be organized at Google's Waterloo as well as Toronto offices from September 13-14.

With wearable technology & Canada at the center of the Hackathon, it is no surprise that we see Thalmic Labs, creators of MYO the gesture-control armband, as the significant companion particularly given that Thalmic Labs creator, Stephen Lake, belongs to the The Next 36 alumni. The event organizers are functioning with Thalmic Labs to access to developer systems for MYO for the occasion. They are also while validating other wearable gadgets contestants will certainly have accessibility to at the event. In complete they expect 10-12 wearable technologies to be at each location.

"We are intending to enable pupils the possibility to hack on some cutting side technology ahead of virtually any person else and also because Thalmic is in the process of rolling out their property development program, it is additionally a wonderful means for them to learn and also acquire instant responses from some quite gifted pupils," Jon French, Supervisor of Advertising and marketing & Events.

The Hackathon will be judged by Elderly Designers from Google and also Thalmic Labs in addition to CTOs and also technological cofounders from other effective startups. Winners of the Hackathon will certainly obtain over $1,500 in prize money and the initial place group will additionally be offered a set of group MYOs. It's the grand reward to capture a place at the National Option Weekend break which entrants will certainly be vying for considering that the Weekend break provides them with a chance to obtain into The Following 36 program.

Building software for hardware is a true sign of the times as we proceed to view more as well as even more wearable computing type elements go into the market, several of which are from Canadian companies. And with 171 million wearable tools anticipated to deliver in 2016 worldwide, the company capacity for any one of the ideas that come out of The Following 36 event are really real.

"We have expanded the range of exactly what N36 business owners could construct as component of our program," detailed French. "In previous years, the emphasis was on mobile applications and software yet we have actually increased to include any sort of technology endeavor that can achieve considerable turning points within the 9-month period of the program. Many of the pupils which apply to the program have revealed an interest in equipment as well as specifically wearables".