INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Origami Labs wants to bring voice assistants right to your ear without requiring you to wear a device like a Bluetooth headset or Apple
Instead, the startup is using a ring on your finger combined with bone conduction technology to allow you to use your smartphone built-in
assistant & whether that Google Assistant or Siri & in an all-new way.Origami Labs& device is the Orii, a smart ring that works with an app
on your phone, allowing you to physically touch your finger to your ear to either speak to or listen to your voice assistant.This involves
the use of bone conduction technology, which allows you to hear sounds through the vibration of bones in your face, bypassing the outer and
middle ears to stimulate the inner ear directly.That means you can use Orii to do things like listen to your text messages, send a WhatsApp
message to a friend, take a phone call, get information like the time or weather, use reminders, or anything else that Siri or Google
Assistant could do.The ring alerts you with a vibration, then you listen (or speak to its microphone) by raising your finger to your ear.The
company presented its device on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2018 today, after winning a &wildcard& spot that allowed it to enter the
Startup Battlefield competition.The Hong Kong-based startup was founded by Marcus Leung-Shea and Kevin Wong in 2015.Wong father is visually
impaired, which makes using a smartphone more difficult.&That where we got started & just to create a device that helps visually impaired
&But through building the product and launching a Kickstarter, it became clear that this screen-free way of interacting with technology is
something that actually a lot of people are looking for
It taps into this sense that we&re spending too much time looking at our devices,& he says.With other Bluetooth devices, like AirPods, there
a limit to how long they can be worn comfortably.Plus, there the aesthetics to consider & not everyone wants to be seen wearing their
AirPods all the time, out of a sense of style
AirPods and other Bluetooth devices in the ear are also often used as a signal others that you don&t want to be bothered.Meanwhile, using
the assistant through the speaker on the phone isn&t very private.The startup ran crowdfunding campaigns last year to raise its initial seed
On Kickstarter, the Orii had 4,000 backers & enough to prove there at least some consumer interest in this kind of product, the founders
believe.The first version of the Orii is shipping to its early backers who paid $99 to $150 for the device
It a bit large, in comparison to even costume rings, but that a solvable problem at scale
A second version of the device, shipping in Q2 2019, will be about 25 percent to 30 percent smaller, Marcus says
This one will come in different colors and enable new features
The company is also working on Alexa integration.Orii has generated some interest from businesses and consumers
Specifically, luxury hotels and retailers want to test the product as a team communication system because they don&t want their staff
looking at screens, which could come across as rude.Mobile operators in Hong Kong, where the 14-person team is based, are also interested in
selling Orii as a bundle with their phones
But all these discussions are in the early stages, Marcus notes.Origami Labs is backed by its crowdfunding and seed investment from the
Alibaba Entrepreneurs Seed Fund.
