Menlo Park – Less than a year after far-surpassing its crowdfunding goal by nearly 1000%, materials science pioneer Matrix Industries, is today announcing the shipment of its PowerWatch to initial backers. The award-winning PowerWatch will be the first device of its kind to be powered by the body itself, demonstrating the success of Matrix’s proprietary thermoelectric energy converter.
PowerWatch energy harvesting performance is a result of three key technical advances unmatched by current technologies, namely:
- Advanced thermoelectric generators that operate more efficiently than available power generators.
- More efficient boost conversion circuitry to power the electronics and charge the internal battery.
- Pioneering thermal design to harvest the small amount of available heat within a wearable form-factor.
“Of all the places on the human body to harvest heat, the outside of the wrist is one of the worst,” said Matrix CEO, Akram Boukai. “The head, bottom of the feet and even the inside of the wrist produce much more heat. Yet even with this challenge, Matrix technology is still able to maintain a temperature difference to run the PowerWatch. Just imagine what this power source could do if applied to other parts of the body.”
The PowerWatch runs off your body heat so you don’t have to recharge it. When you take it off, your data is stored in memory and it goes to sleep; put it back on and the watch turns back on right where you left it (up to two years of idle mode). It’s got an always-on power meter that tells you how much electricity your body heat is producing, making it the most accurate measure of calories burned on the market. The rugged aircraft-grade aluminum wearable that wirelessly syncs with your smartphone, automatically adjusts to the current time zone, tracks your steps, calories and sleep, and is water resistant up to 50 meters. Even without the need to charge, the PowerWatch still offers the same capabilities of many battery-powered fitness wearables, without the hassle of chargers and cables.
“Research shows that the number one reason consumers stop using wearables is because they take them off to charge and forget that they exist,” continued Boukai. “The PowerWatch was designed and built with the consumer top of mind, functioning the way we want our wearables to function, without any lapses for charging. By reducing or eliminating the need for recharging, the PowerWatch is the first wearable to offer consumers this uninterrupted ability.”
PowerWatch and the special edition PowerWatch Black Ops are both shipping to initial backers and will be available for purchase this month on PowerWatch.com, starting at $199, with premium PowerWatch X slated to ship before the end of the year.
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About Matrix Industries:
Matrix is a Silicon Valley materials science company, founded in 2011, that is committed to radically re-engineering consumers’ wearable experiences. The team of experts in thermoelectric material science, thermal engineering, and consumer product development and manufacturing, consists of Ph.D. graduates from CalTech, MIT, Harvard and UCSD, and 25+ years of experience in manufacturing and shipping leading technology.
