Fitness trackers are almost everywhere these days and with so many brands vying for supremacy on the wrist, startups might find it hard to establish footing by introducing smartwatches and wristbands. As such, South Korean health care tech company Welt decided for its fitness tracker to take up real estate somewhere else.
Enter the WELT smart belt. Welt first debuted the device during the CES 2016 back in January under Samsung's banner. However, for undisclosed reasons, Welt spun-off from Samsung in July and established itself as an independent startup. Now, the company has an ongoing Kickstarter campaign for WELT.
"WELT is the wellness belt that makes wearables fashionable," says its Kickstarter page. "WELT tracks key health data and provides tips and warnings for your health."
WELT can track a number of activities. For starters, it notes how many steps the wearer takes using an embedded pedometer and then uses that figure to calculate the amount of calories that were burnt.
The smart belt also tracks inactivity by summing up the wearer's sitting time throughout the entire day. The company notes that even with proper exercise, sitting for extended periods of time has been linked with health risks.
Of course, it won't be a proper smart belt if it can't measure the waistline. It gives a real-time reading of the waistline and tracks the user's progress over time, which can be a good source of positive feedback for those who are into weight loss. Note that the WELT can only track waistlines between 28 and 44 inches.
However, its biggest feature falls on its ability to track overeating patterns. WELT takes note of the waist's contraction and expansion, which can happen in as short as half an hour.
All the figures gathered for each metric will be sent to Welt's mobile app on a connected phone. The app can display a summary of real-time stats and deduce whether the wearer did poorly or outperformed himself. For a more detailed insight, the app can plot the collected figures on a graph for each specific metric, which shows how the wearer performs compared to previous days.
The WELT smart belt offers a 20-day battery life.
It is listed on Kickstarter at $69 for the most basic design. Limited edition ones shoot up to $199. Welt has now managed to rack up its $30,000 goal and surpass it, reaching 31,735 at the time of writing. The campaign still has 30 more days to go.
Welt hopes to ship its smart belts by January 2017. Below is a promotional video for the WELT smart belt.
