Sproutling: The Future of Baby Monitors

August 19, 2014
Written By Wearables.com

Sproutling is joining the race for wearable trackers, albeit for a slightly younger audience. The young Silicon Valley company wants to alleviate some of the fears of young parents all with the help of sensor data.

Sproutling takes a different approach to baby monitors, letting parents take the back seat and the baby monitor to do the heavy lifting. The device itself is shaped like a puck (making it choke proof), and comes with three different sizes of bands, to stay with the baby as it grows. Inside the ankle bracelet are sensors that transmit 16 measurements every second, producing over 1,000 data points that end up translating into unique key metrics that are reflected on the accompanying smartphone app via Bluetooth. With just the ankle bracelet alone, Sproutling can detect skin temperature, positioning of the baby to avoid Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, sleep habits, heart rate, interprets mood and just about every other insight into the baby’s life. However, the true potential behind Sproutling is its ability to take the data collected from the baby, and use machine learning from it to detect abnormalities, as well as predict future behavior.

The Sproutling monitor and app. Source: Sproutling.

And if the bracelet didn’t already detect enough information, the wireless charger (called the charging bowl) is able to pick up on environmental data, such as noise, humidity, room temperature, and light levels. This combined with the ankle bracelet gives parents a complete picture of how their baby is doing at all times, but really gives them room to not need to constantly watch their baby, even though they probably will anyway. While parents can constantly check the app to see every biometric reading, they can just as easily put the phone down, and be notified when something changes, such as the baby waking up from a nap.

The Sproutling Baby Monitor was available for pre-order for $249, with the full asking price once it goes on sale to go up to $300. Though pre-order availability has officially sold out per the Sproutling site! We will update as to when pre-orders become available again.