i4C Innovations, a subsidiary of Chantilly, Va.–based
Intersections, Inc., walked away with the title "Best Wearable Tech" at CES 2014 from
PC World and TechHive at this year's Consumer Electronics Shows in Las Vegas. i4C's product,
VOYCE, debuted at CES and according to company president Jeff Noce, made indelible impressions on pet lovers and those in the wearable tech spheres.
VOYCE is a system for tracking a dog's health. There are two components—the wearable technology piece, essentially a collar that weighs less than six ounces and fits dogs with 12 to 22-inch necks. The collar monitors the dog's health in terms of resting heart rate, resting breathing rate, amount of rest, calories burned and distance the dog moves. This raw data is sent to the second component of VOYCE—a mobile dashboard that allows owners to monitor their pets' data, input electronic medical records and schedule reminders such as vaccinations and medications. The dashboard also integrates with what Noce calls "a WebMD for dogs"—a trove of articles on physical and behavioral health issues written by vets and top experts across the country.
"Vets see dogs once a year and pets often have 'white coat syndrome,'" Noce explains. "VOYCE provides vets with objective vital sign information, instead of subjective information from owners," or misinformation from a racing heart. "What you do for people, we're bringing to dogs."
Noce says that often times, by the time owners notice that their pets are in pain, it's too late. He's hoping VOYCE will change that. "Dogs are genetically predisposed to hide pain. It's part of the pack mentality," he says. "It's a sign of weakness. [Whatever is causing the pain] is problematic by the time we see it."
VOYCE should be available to the public online in mid-summer. The cost isn't cheap--$299 for the unit and a $15 monthly subscription to the dashboard—but for those whose pets are a member of the family, catching an issue before it becomes a problem could be well worth the cost.
Now that CES has passed, Noce is making the rounds at veterinary conferences. "I've been pleasantly surprised by the international attention and interest and acceptance from the vet community," he explains. "They are very interested in applying VOYCE to [their] practices."
Other versions of VOYCE are coming after the product's initial launch mid-summer, including a smaller version for toy dogs and cats, and a larger version for horses and zoo animals. "This is the first time something like this has been brought to market," Noce says. "[The signal] has to go through air and fur and [the receiver] has to be waterproof and dustproof to some extent. It's not just an accelerometer in a pretty case."