DGIST Startup 'N-Side' invited to CES, the World's Largest IT Trade Show

DGIST startup N-Side will participate in the world’s largest trade show ‘CES 2020’ in Las Vegas, U.S. for four days from Tuesday, January 7th. Highly recognized for its communion-type smart pet necklace, N-Side has been invited to CES 2020 and will hold an exhibition for four days.

 Specialized in developing pets’ wearable products, DGIST startup N-Side was established to commercialize technologies developed with graduate students. Professor Kyeong-In Jang in the Department of Robotics Engineering conducted research on sensor technology with graduate students (Sae-hyuck Oh and Janghwan Jekal in the Department of Robotics Engineering) and succeeded in developing a technology to check pets’ health and mood information in real-time as well as a necklace-form product applying the technology. After, the professor established ‘N-Side’ and embarked on the product commercialization.

 The size of wearable product market for pets is about 2 trillion KRW and is growing steadily. With science and technological development, various products applying ICT technology are being developed and diverse startups and companies throughout the world are also actively carrying out development and investment. However, most products developed so far are in stiff and firm clip form that are uncomfortable for animals to wear and often cannot receive biometric signals, causing limitations in collecting accurate information.

 In contrast, the necklace product developed by N-Side has minimized pets’ discomfort. N-Side developed a wireless communion sensor technology that can be bent flexibly and attaches gently to pets’ neck, which can collect various information. This product is capable of collecting more correct and detailed information, by overcoming the difficulties in collecting precise information due to signal disruptions in the existing one.

 Professor Kyung-In Jang in the Department of Robotics Engineering said: “We are very excited to present the product we developed at CES 2020. N-Side’s product will also contribute greatly to helping various pets' health like a vet clinics or animal shelters.” Regarding the future plans, he said “We plan to receive feedback from 100 people to experience the new product in the first half of this year and improve the technology and product quality based on them.”

 CES 2020 has served as the world’s largest IT trade show presenting the latest global ICT trends. This year, it will be held for three days from January 7 to 10 in Las Vegas, U.S. CES is the world’s gathering place for all those who thrive on the business of breakthrough technologies such as AI or blockchain. CES 2020 will be attended by prominent global IT companies including Google, Amazon, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and Hyundai Motor.

Smart pet wearable necklace: 

Unlike the existing pet wearable devices, this flexibly-built wireless communion sensor is stored inside the necklace so it is not uncomfortable for pets to wear. By closely attaching to the neck, it can analyze body temperature, stress level, and sleep quality which are the core signals of interpreting emotions.

A smartphone app that interworks with the smart pet wearable necklace: 

It is connected to the smart communion-type pet necklace with Bluetooth and shows in real-time your pet’s mood and health status in real-time such as whether it slept well last night, it feels a warm temperature, or if it is stressed.

Mimetic diagram of the wireless communion sensor inside the smart communion-type pet: necklaceWireless communion sensor implanted inside a leather pet necklace. This wireless communion sensor was developed using the Bluetooth-wireless network technology, flexible electronic device technology based on mechanical dynamics, vein measurement technology using light, heart rate measurement technology using semiconductor device, movement measurement technology using acceleration signals, and big data-based communion analysis technology.