Health trackers, or “wearables,” have taken the fitness industry by storm over the past decade. The global wearables market in 2022 was valued at $138 billion, according to data from Precedence Research, and is expected to approach $500 billion by 2032. An Indian start-up, Muse Wearables, burst on the fitness scene recently with a product that re-imagines the wearables form factor in the shape of a ring. The adornment, known as Ring One, is more than a fashion statement. It’s a clinical-grade tracker that monitors heart rate and variability, blood pressure, respiratory rates, body temperature and blood-oxygen levels. And if that’s not enough, a simple switch of operating mode turns Ring One into an NFC-enabled electronic payment device.
The Early Days
Muse Wearables launched in 2017 as part of an Indian Institute of Technology Madras Incubation Cell program in Chennai, India by founders Prathyusha Kamarajugadda, KLN Sai Prasanth and Yathindra Ajay KA. Muse Wearables released its first product in 2019 – the Muse Hybrid Smart Watch with Bluetooth and activity tracking. Things intensified in 2020 during the COVID-19 outbreak when Muse added blood-oxygen monitoring technology. That proved to be a game-changer for the healthcare industry in India, which scooped up the watches to provide clinical-grade data that indicates precisely when a patient’s blood-oxygen level drops enough to require a respirator.
Widespread adoption of the Muse Wearables smart watch allowed the company to collect millions of anonymous data points and refine the accuracy of its health tracker algorithms. The experience also revealed that watches are not necessarily the most practical for patient vital-sign monitoring as they tend to rotate around the wrist, especially when patients are asleep. They realized that a finger is a better place to get a good signal and more accurate data.
Muse is confident that the Ring One will change how people engage with their fitness trackers and incentivize them to expand their use of e-payment options. Outside of a hospital setting, for example, a typical user experience might begin with a sleep quality score each morning based on overnight vital sign analysis, including important REM sleep periods. During the day, the ring tracks all activity, such as step counts, and issues an alert if the user is stationary for too long. The ring also tracks maximal oxygen consumption, which is a measure of how much oxygen a person uses during an intense workout.
For e-payments, a simple wave of the hand engages any point-of-sale terminal without the need for a wallet or phone.
Expanding the Feature Set
The Ring One is a marvel of integration. In addition to a temperature sensor, 3D accelerometer and a gyroscope, the company came upon the novel concept of designing in a single NFC antenna that enables both e-payments and device charging. The addition of a unique user interface complements a Bluetooth feature that allows ring data to be relayed to a smartphone.
The ring has a very small form factor, so it took a lot of thought to design the user interface. They call it a ‘turn wheel’ interface, because you actually rotate the outer shell of the ring to activate different modes. For example, a user rotates the shell left to start a workout, and then turns it to the right to enable payment mode. The ring also comes with a charging case, which has a battery of its own that will last a month.
Ring One is the first in the world to pioneer a new era, combining wireless charging and NFC payments using a single antenna, thus enabling it to make such a compact device. Its innovative turn wheel user interface adds further sophistication to the functionality. This groundbreaking technology is underscored by the filing of multiple patents.
To perform both payments and charging using a single antenna, Muse Wearables turned to Panthronics, now a unit of Renesas Electronics that specializes in NFC wireless charging technology. Due to their footprint constraints, Renesas was the only solution that was able to provide NFC charging.
The Ring One uses a Renesas NFC transmitter, which transmits power to the ring from the charging case and provides the industry’s highest output power for faster NFC charging. A powerful and efficient integrated NFC wireless charging listener system-on-chip enables wireless charging applications together with data communication.
Renesas worked closely with Muse Wearables in testing and evaluation, which was crucial in finalizing the design. Ring One was launched in late September 2023 and Muse anticipates that it will change how people engage with their fitness trackers and incentivize them to expand their use of e-payment options.
