Microsoft develops ‘smart bra’ to prevent women from eating too much

“It’s no longer enough to have smartphones, smartwatches, smart TVs and smart cars. Now a tech company is bringing artificial intelligence to lingerie,” Brandon Griggs reports for CNN. “Researchers at Microsoft have developed a prototype of a ‘smart bra’ embedded with physiological sensors that seek to monitor a woman’s heart activity to track her emotional moods and combat overeating. The sensors can signal the wearer’s smartphone, which then flash a warning message to help her step away from the fridge and make better diet decisions.”

“The researchers then conducted a study in which four women wore the sensors in their bras for four days to monitor their vital signs. An electrocardiogram (EKG) sensor under the arm measured their heart rate, while an electrodermal activity (EDA) sensor tracked their perspiration,” Griggs reports. “The researchers determined the bra was mostly effective in detecting its wearer’s emotional changes. But the sensors needed to be recharged every three to four hours, which limited how long the bra could be worn. And more research would be needed before a smart brassiere — Microsoft’s Secret, anyone? — ever became a viable product.”

Griggs reports, “A Microsoft spokesperson downplayed the bra’s significance in an e-mail to CNN. ‘While we will continue our research in affective computing, Microsoft has no plans to develop a bra with sensors.'”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Not that we didn’t suspect it, but now we know for sure why Microsoft’s R&D budget is 10 times Apple’s.

And, who’s leading Microsoft’s R&D team, anyway, Dr. Evil, Austin Powers, or both?

They did make one for Ballmer. 46C.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Jim-tiv” for the heads up.]

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