Preventing Drowsiness While Driving and Detecting Falls... Samsung Electronics Expands Health Ecosystem

'Samsung Developer Conference 2022' Held on the 12th
Tools Released for Developing Solutions Supporting Health and Safety

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-sun] Samsung Electronics is expanding its health ecosystem through collaboration with partners, developers, and medical institutions.

On the 12th (local time), Samsung Electronics announced that it will unveil developer tools for creating solutions that help product users' health and safety at the 'Samsung Developer Conference 2022 (SDC22)' opening in San Francisco, USA.

The developer tools announced this time include Samsung's specialized 'Health Software Development Kit (SDK)' for partner collaboration, a 'Fall Detection Application Programming Interface (API)' for user safety, a new 'Open Source Project' for medical services and research, and the beta service 'Health Connect'.

Yang Tae-jong, Vice President and Head of Health Development Team at Samsung Electronics MX Division, said, "Samsung Electronics is continuously strengthening the healthcare sector through open collaboration based on excellent hardware and sensor technology," adding, "With expanded developer tools, APIs, and partner cooperation, we will be able to further advance the health and safety management functions of wearable devices."

Development of Solutions for Detecting Drowsiness and Stress While Driving

Samsung Electronics is supporting the development of solutions that detect driver fatigue and stress early to prevent accidents for safe driving. Samsung is collaborating with Tobii, a specialist in eye-tracking technology, to develop software that detects driver drowsiness. With user consent, Tobii developed a solution using Samsung's specialized Health SDK that utilizes real-time heart rate data measured by Galaxy Watch sensors to assess the level of drowsiness.

Recently, Samsung Electronics also introduced the 'Ready Care' solution for driver safety in collaboration with Harman, a company specializing in connected car, audio, and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions. Ready Care, with user consent, measures driver distraction, fatigue, and biometric signals, and detects cognitive load and stress levels to suggest alternative routes that can reduce stress.

Additional Adoption of Fall Detection API for User Safety

A health service providing APIs that allow developers to create health-related services by utilizing Galaxy Watch sensors and algorithms will also be introduced. Samsung Electronics has additionally adopted a fall detection API with adjustable sensitivity into the health service, laying the foundation for developing various services aimed at user safety.

Developers can create services using fall detection algorithms that combine various sensor technologies, including the Galaxy Watch's accelerometer and gyroscope sensors, to detect user falls or staggering.

Galaxy phone users can adjust the sensitivity of fall detection in apps utilizing the fall detection API to suit their preferences through the Galaxy Wearable app.

Support for Accelerating Medical Services and Research

Samsung Electronics introduces an open source project that provides an end-to-end solution combining SDKs for various applications, backend systems, and portals. Based on health information and insights obtained through Galaxy Watch and wearables, it will support medical research and clinical services at research institutions and hospitals.

Researchers can simplify the process of recruiting participants and conducting studies using the new open source. They can also modify survey items as needed and more easily collect necessary data and insights from wearable devices. All research information is encrypted and transmitted to the backend system, and health and medical institutions can monitor and analyze the collected insights to utilize them for patient treatment plans and future research.

Launched in May by Samsung Electronics and Google, 'Health Connect' supports developers in providing consistent and comprehensive health services through a single API set. Health Connect allows users to conveniently gather and manage their health information in one place. User health data is stored only on the device and is shared only with apps designated by the user upon their consent. Security and privacy are core to Health Connect, with all data shared by users encrypted and stored on the device.

Health Connect is currently in beta service, and recently major health and fitness apps including Samsung Health, Fitbit, Lip Fitness, MyFitnessPal, and Withings have adopted Health Connect.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.