Amazon is reportedly developing Alexa-powered device to track signs of sleep apnea; Details

Amazon Alexa: E-commerce giant Amazon is building a new device powered by Alexa that would use radar to track the sleep of the user and monitor it for signs of sleep apnea, if reports are to be believed. The device would be the size of a palm, and it would be designed to sit on the bedside table of the customer and make use of the millimeter-wave radar in order to sense the user’s breathing, while looking out for any interruptions that could be linked to sleep apnea.

Monitoring sleep using radar is not a new idea, and the attempts to commercialise the technology have been made by at least one other big company – the Nintendo. In 2014, the Japanese video gaming company had said that it would develop a non-wearable device that would use radio waves to track sleep, but two years ago, Nintendo said that the product might not be viable, leaving the project unreleased to date. On the other hand, last December, smartphone giant OnePlus announced a concept phone that would monitor the user’s breathing with the help of mmWave radar.

Code named “Brahms” after the German composer, the project has been under development for the past year by an internal team at Amazon, as per reports. Currently, the device is said to be resembling a standing pad in the shape of a hexagon which is connected to a metal wire base. Reports doing rounds also believe that the device would track other sleeping disorders apart from sleep apnea.

If the rumours are true, this would mark the latest entry of Amazon into the health tech sector, after it released the Halo fitness tracker last year, which it insists is not a medical device even as it tracks the body and voice of the user to help improve their health.