Elematec, a trading company under the TOYOTA group, has been introduced to numerous Korean SMEs by the LA Times Asia Journal. Despite the outbreak, Elematec has been meeting with their respective clients in Japan to inform and demonstrate the technologies and products created by these Korean SMEs.
GB Soft, a Korean company, has developed a camera that can measure vital signs (blood pressure, oxygen level, pulse, body temperature) by analyzing the light that the camera reads.
Elematex introduced GB Soft to Maxell, a Japanese home appliance company, for they had interest in developing a service platform. Maxell is preparing a partnership with a fitness app that is utilized in 170 locations in Japan. They aim to maintain the number of users by integrating GB Soft’s vital sign reading technology. Currently, the app features a paid and free version and has 600,000 downloads. With the GB Soft update, the app is expected to cost about 500 to 1,000 yen (approx. 5 to 10 USD).
In addition, GB Soft was also introduced to Japan’s AIPhone, a company that creates interphones (60% of Japan’s market share) and nurse call systems. AIPhone was specifically interested in GB Soft’s body temperature reading function as it would benefit their current projects.
When Elematec introduced GB Soft to Mitsubishi Electric, GB Soft was asked very specific technical questions. Mitsubishi inquired about the accuracy of their measurements in specific scenarios. Will the measurements be affected by sunlight while the subject is in motion (driving), can the infrared camera measure multiple people in an office simultaneously, is it possible to measure data using edge computing rather than cloud computing when mounted to a vehicle. They asked if edge computing is plausible, is it possible to integrate GB Soft’s functions into the SoC(System on Chip).The questions were very technical.
A Korean company, Emma Healthcare, recently developed a smart baby cradle. Like GB Soft, they use a camera with rPPG (remote photoplethysmography) technology to monitor and measure vital signs such as blood pressure, oxygen level, pulse, and body temperature. The camera that is equipped on the bed is designed to move around in compliance with the voice command issued on the user’s smartphone app. Because this product has yet to be mass produced, Elematic plans on introducing Emma Healthcare’s products to the following bed manufacturing companies in Japan(70% of Japan’s market share): Atom Medical, Combi, Pigeon Japan, France Bed, and Paramount Bed. All of these companies have an interest in this field.
Several examples have been mentioned above. Although it is possible to hold offline meetings with companies within the country, it is practically impossible to meet with companies overseas at this time. Moreover, with Korean SMEs not knowing which Japanese companies to meet with, Elematec’s sales activities are bound to be very precious to Korean SMEs.
Mike Choi
Asia Journal
