Intel gave out $500,000 as a prize to the developers of a wristband that can transform into a drone equipped with a camera.
The Nixie quadcopter, as the wristband-drone is named, is the winner of the Make It Wearable Competition held by Intel that the company hopes will ensure its top position in the emerging but lucrative wearable technology industry.
The Nixie quadcopter can be worn while wrapped around the user's wrist. The drone will then be able to launch into the air to capture images from hard-to-reach locations.
Similar to a boomerang, the Nixie quadcopter will then return to its owner after it has done its duty. The drone then automatically syncs the images that it took to the user's smartphone.
One of the primary uses for the drone is for rock climbers, who will then be able to take pictures of sights that are rarely seen by humans without compromising their safety.
Aside from that, the Nixie quadcopter has a broad range of uses that is only limited by human application. The drone can be used to look into cracks and crevices in search and rescue missions, capture intense action shots during sporting events, or simply take selfies from higher angles for bigger groups.
Intel launched the Make It Wearable contest back in January to urge both hobbyists and entrepreneurs to utilize the chips of Intel for the development of new wearable technology. The company looks to keep its processors in the forefront of this new trend in technology after falling second behind Qualcomm in tablets and smartphones, which is a trend that Intel was slow to adapt to.
The $500,000 prize, according to Intel, is meant to aid the winners of the competition to develop their prototype into a product that can be sold in the market.
"This was an experiment to see what we could do in this space and see what kind of creativity we could spawn," said Intel CEO Brian Krzanich during the awarding of the winning group.
"The real value in this was the diversity of the teams and ideas," Krzanich added.
Other finalists in the competition include a pad that will allow babies born prematurely to feel their mother's heartbeat, and a necklace that provides cyclists with directions using pulses that are felt on the chest.
Second place went to Open Bionics, a low-cost prosthetic robot hand that looks to keep its price below $1,000, while third place went to ProGlove, a wearable production tool.
Team Nixie is made up of only three people, namely Christoph Kohstall, Jelena Jovanovic, and Michael Niedermayr.
