This article was taken from the January 2014 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
It may look cute, but this sensor-packed bear is designed to track children's vital signs. Called Teddy The Guardian, it captures heart-rate, temperature, and blood-oxygen saturation when a child grabs it by the paw. "It's Disneyland meets hospital," says CEO Josipa Majic, 23. "In hospitals, children get very stressed during a medical examination and that skews the data, so what nurses do is give the child a cuddly toy for distraction. We thought: why not let the bear do the nurse's job?"
The Zagreb- and London-based startup is Seedcamp-backed and has already made a volume of pre-orders worth half a million euros, mostly from big US pharmaceutical companies intending to donate Teddy The Guardian to hospitals and clinics. "The next version will be interactive," says cofounder Ana Burica, 23. "Using machine learning, Teddy will learn which are the child's favourite songs and bedtime likes, and play that content." Perhaps next time you go down to the hospital, you can be sure of a big surprise - medical equipment that's made to be hugged. And you won't even need a disguise.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
