There are fitness trackers, and then there’s the Naked 3D Fitness Tracker. Clickbait name aside, this new fitness tracking device has the potential to seriously disrupt the market for individuals who want regular, accurate, and motivating details about their fitness journey. In recent years, most fitness tracking developments have come in the form of wearables and other devices that are meant to gamify the process of losing weight. Naked 3D Fitness Tracker is not that. In simple terms, it’s an app for iOS and Android, paired with a high-tech mirror and turntable scale. Pitched as “the world’s first home body scanner,” the device creates a 3D model of your body as you stand on a Bluetooth-connected scale. That scale rotates 360º while the full-length mirror uses Intel RealSense Depth Sensors to do a full body scan in just 20 seconds. Those sensor images are stitched together to create a 3D avatar visualization of your body. That image appears on your app, complete with metrics galore: weight, body fat, muscle gain and loss, circumference of muscles, and more. That 3D visualization isn’t a stagnant image. Instead, built in heat maps highlight where you’ve lost fat and gained muscle over time. Compare your 3D avatar from one month to the next and it’s easy and astounding to see the progress that has been made. It’s the measurement of incremental daily improvements that helps users stay on track with their fitness goals — rather than being motivated by questions such as “am I getting healthier?” The Reasoning Behind Naked 3D Naked 3D was developed by a San Francisco-based startup called Naked Labs. Farhad Farahbakhshian, the CEO and co-founder, is an electrical engineer and former spin teacher who wanted to give people of all sizes an objective and accurate picture of their appearance, health, and fitness level. Farahbakhshian told TechCrunch that without the help of technology, eyes can focus on problem areas, which can lead to inaccurate perceptions of how a body looks. Not only that, but appearance is just one piece of the puzzle: one person can look great but not have enough fat, and another person can be overweight but not realize how out of sync their muscle and fat levels are. While some may challenge the device as promoting body shaming or putting too much emphasis on one’s physical appearance, that’s not the purpose at all. Rather, it’s meant to help people visualize beyond their physical appearance, and use science to keep people on track as they work towards improving their health. Unlike intelligent scales and other devices that estimate body fat within a margin of 8%, Naked 3D can get that estimate to within 1.5%, making it comparable to a water displacement test. Implications for Future Use Projections of body fat and muscle gain are just the start for Naked 3D. Farahbakhshian says the startup is open to integrating with other fitness trackers and services in order to provide people with a more holistic view of their body and exercise routine. He told Wareable that Naked 3D could also be used to detect asymmetries in a person’s body, quirks that could pose the potential for future injuries. With a full picture of your body and its development over time, the device will also likely have the potential to show targeted areas of improvement to prevent strain and increase overall health. Finally, Naked Fit also envisions working virtually with trainers so people can get personalized exercise tips along the way. Naked 3D has been beta testing on real people since 2015 and you can see the results for yourself as of March 2017 when shipping for the mirror and scale begins.

The world receives healthcare far differently than ever before, thanks to rapidly improving technology. For instance, we can tap around a few times on our smartphones and about 45 minutes later, a pizza will arrive at the door. That’s healthy, right? Outside of the benefits of cheesy bread, technology gives us a wide range of opportunities we can use to improve and monitor our health. From Fitbits to mobile blood sugar monitors, we now have an expansive world of options to feel better and decrease discomfort. One discomfort that is extremely common is located in one of the most vital parts of our bodies - our backs. No kidding, a reported 80% of us will suffer from back pain at some point in our lives. 80%! We were approached by a revolutionary company called Nuspine, whose aim was to improve that terrible statistic. Nuspine’s vision was to work with what you’ve got, right where you are. They wanted an easy-to-use solution that back pain sufferers could access from the comfort of their home, in a convenient way. We add the convenient bit because, sure, a few taps on a smartphone could cause a spine expert to arrive at your door much like the aforementioned pizza, but who has time for that anyway? Instead, they assembled a group of spine and back experts and got to work designing exercises and routines that the common back pain sufferer could access and use on an everyday basis. Putting it all together, they developed a training program designed to reduce spine compression, which aids in reducing overall back pain. Once we took on this project, we knew that simple UI/UX was going to be key. These folks are dealing with back pain, the last thing they need is an app that’s confusing, complicated, and ultimately frustrating. The team also realized the challenge of moving a user through a training system as sophisticated as one dealing with improving the health of the user. As such, the exercises are delivered through a step-by-step progression learning system, guiding the patient through modules in order to learn more techniques, and improve spinal health. As further steps are taken through the Nuspine system, the user unlocks bonus tips that help the patient further understand the principles of back pain, and how the body is influenced by the environment around them. Nuspine also includes a tracking journal, developed by the National Institute of Health, helping the user further understand the impact back pain has on their lifestyle. As the patient moves through the training, the journal keeps track of exactly when they improve, which helps them understand which elements of Nuspine were the most effective. This innovative system was created for on-the-go patients, physicians, and clinicians, in order to work together to streamline the healing process for those 80% of us who have ever suffered from back pain. Which means, if you’re reading this right now and feel discomfort in your back - it’s time to give Nuspine a try. Barefoot Solutions works with a wide range of innovators to create apps that people will use, apps that make money, and apps that improve everyday lives. Have an idea? Let’s hear it.