Samsung’s C-Lab has been making its presence felt in major tech gatherings around the world with its quirky products since its launch in 2012. Continuing the trend, Samsung has announced today that they will showcase three new C-Lab projects and commercial products from seven C-Lab spin-offs at this year’s CES.
The three new C-Lab projects which will make an appearance at CES 2018 are S-Ray, GoBreath, and Relúmĭno glasses. While two of these three new projects, S-Ray and GoBreath, are completely new, Relúmĭno glasses are an extension of the idea already showcased by C-Lab on many occasions.
Samsung C-Lab's new projects
S-Ray (Sound Ray)
S-Ray or Sound-Ray is a portable directional speaker which comes in different form factors and can be carried anywhere. It is smaller, lighter and portable than the other competing solutions which are mostly stationary and expensive. With this new speaker technology, Samsung wants to enable users to listen to their devices without disturbing others. The S-Ray speaker aims to offer the convenience of earphones without the disadvantages that accompany them.
Samsung claims their S-Ray speakers will not cause disturbance to others while also helping you to avoid the ear pain caused by long hours of earphone use. The S-Ray video published by Samsung shows three S-Ray devices – Mini, Handy, and Neckband. The press release also mentions a smartphone cover with built-in S-Ray. From the video and the wording of the press release, it appears that S-Ray is not just a specific product, but also a speaker technology which can be incorporated into other audio products.
https://youtu.be/3dbZuzs46E4
GoBreath
GoBreath is a health-care solution developed by a doctor at Samsung Medical Center. It consists of an inhaler-like portable device and a connected mobile app to help patients with lung damage and postoperative complications. It teaches patients basic techniques such as inspiration, coughing or deep breathing, and help them in their recovery process. The app provides exercise guidelines and helps patients to check how well their lungs have recovered. GoBreath also offers cloud service for doctors to monitor their patients’ recovery progress and send reminders.
https://youtu.be/gamcI5ssCRM
Relúmĭno Glasses
While the Relúmĭno glasses are new, the underlying technology has been showcased by Samsung many times in 2017. Relúmĭno app was first showcased at Mobile World Congress last year. The app uses Gear VR to assist to visually-impaired people by enhancing their vision to overcome everyday challenges. C-Lab kept working on the project and improved the original solution by replacing Gear VR with light and comfortable eyeglasses.
Relúmĭno glasses are Samsung’s visual aid solution for people with visual impairments. These smart eyeglasses aim to help visually impaired people to see more clearly when they are reading or looking at an object. The glasses work in conjunction with a smartphone by utilizing its processors and batteries. This makes the Relúmĭno glasses discrete, light and comfortable to wear, unlike the original Gear-VR based solution. Relúmĭno glasses work by relying on a connected smartphone for processing images from videos projected through the camera of the glasses and floating the processed images into the display of the glasses to enable the wearer to see better.
https://youtu.be/cmal7zgwlMU
Apart from these three projects, Samsung will also showcase commercial products from LINKFLOW, Kitten Planet, lululab, KIDSOFT, Mangoslab, Innomdle lab, and analogue plus – seven start-ups which have been spun off from Samsung C-Lab.
C-Lab, an in-house startup incubator, was launched by Samsung in 2012. It is an internal program run by Samsung to assist its employees in developing their creative business ideas into products. Samsung supports them by offering the resources required to transform their ideas into products. Since the launch of the program, C-Lab has showcased dozens of innovative products and ideas. While many of these C-Lab projects may not turn into commercial products, they help the company to experiment new ideas rapidly to find the next big thing. Over a dozen startups have been spun-off from the Creative Lab program already, and Samsung continues to support them with resources after they are separated from the C-Lab.
