The idea to develop training assistance wearables was first conceptualised by Kwok Cheong WONG (KC) during his study stint at SIM’s Platform E entrepreneurship programme. KC and his mentor, Dr Bert Grobben, shared a similar interest in improving fitness.
This spurred KC to pursue his interest in developing training assistance wearables that do more than just tracking people’s exercise and fitness. Thus, ATHLEDE Pte Ltd was born.
Founded by both the mentee and mentor, the sports lifestyle hardware tech company has recently secured a S$40,000 angel funding and Startup SG founder grant from TRi5 Ventures, an Accredited Mentor Partner of SPRING Singapore, to develop these devices.
The Aspiration
ATHLEDE addresses the problems people currently face with fitness trackers: What do they do with the information? How do they improve from it?
For KC, starting up ATHLEDE is a dream come true. He says,
“I believe that some people deserve help to achieve their goals. We want to help athletes find their next breakthrough in their career and others who are looking for guidance in training to achieve what they used to think was impossible. Goal setting and training programmes offered by fitness trackers feel gimmicky as they provide virtually no feedback while in use. We go beyond the utility to create a compelling experience that connects emotionally with our users to help them realise their goals and aspirations. Wearables must be more than just a tracker. It has to influence a behavioural change to help people achieve their next goals.”
The Idea
Based on his personal sports experience, KC wanted to develop a training assistance wearable that can deliver a new user experience for athletes and individuals by helping them to optimise their training efficiency and achieve more significant results.
The device makes use of an ergonomically positioned LED and Haptic feedback to provide users with a real‐time response on their performance. As a result, it can push users to break their own record and let users make training correction without having to look directly at the device.
In technical terms, the wearable and its back-end algorithm measure real-time performance data, and compute actionable real-time feedback on performance improvements to close the gap between the training objective and/or a dynamic baseline in case you have a bad day. Over the lifespan of using our device, the data analysis will get more accurate, personalized and relevant for each individual athlete.
Over the time, ATHLEDE actively learns the user’s fitness level, monitors progression, and curates a training plan to springboard them to the next level. It introducing a new level of challenge where users can race with other runners of all levels. ATHLEDE is connecting users through the community with other athletes, coaches, schools and sports associations, creating a unique eco‐system that will enable a growing interconnected lifestyle for all.
In simple terms, the smartwatch will be able to monitor and analyse your performance during your training and provide real-time responses such as vibration, tap simulation and visual LED feedback so that you can make the necessary corrections to achieve your goals. When you have bad days or are struggling with stress that causes you to be unable to keep up with the training goals, the device will be smart enough to automatically adjust to a new appropriate setting.
The device will be self-sustaining, and not rely on a mobile phone for data analytics. You will connect the device to your phone/computer to extract your data, change training goals, input personal details, but it does not rely on the phone/computer for the computing power.
ATHLEDE’s main focus at the moment is to address the needs of runners. The founders aim to accelerate development progress based on the sports community that will see immediate training impact from the device. From there, the device will be developed to other sports where form analysis is relevant.
The Next Steps
The next milestone for the company is to allow athletes to try and experience the prototype of ATHLEDE, which is targeted to start by the end of Q1 2018.
Building from an optimised athlete experience, the company will grow its user community and introduce value‐adding services such as personalised coaching and training schedules, as well as provide a platform for aspiring athletes to be discovered, whatever sport they are in.
The commercial version is expected to be available in late 2018.
What’s your next goal? How do you plan to achieve your next breakthrough?
