Working in the Internet of Things I am always keeping an eye on new products and trends in our space. Recently a Kickstarter project called CliQ caught my attention.
I reached out and interviewed Gregory Barchard, Senior Software Engineer at BioSensics to find out more about the project.
“CliQ is a versatile smart sensor that empowers you to automate, track, and improve your life,” he said. “It can transform virtually any object into a smart device, so you can take advantage of truly personalized automation. In addition to a button, each CliQ contains an embedded motion sensor, allowing you to trigger actions in 4 different ways: click, double click, brief motion, and extended motion. Plus, you can choose precisely when and where you want your CliQ to work. This flexibility lets you control the world around you to make your life easier, form better habits (or eliminate bad ones), and safeguard the things that matter.”
Their team believes with the CliQ companion app, the applications are endless.
“Set reminders for daily routines like feeding pets and plants, automatically turn on lights or start your favorite podcast, or be held accountable for your fitness goals and health habits,” Barchard said. “And if you’re looking for even more ideas, you can explore the CliQ community to see how other users are making life easier with their CliQs. CliQ is making modern digital living a reality.”
As I am writing this the Kickstarter has already crossed it’s $50,000 goal with 32 days still to go in fundraising.
The team behind CliQ is BioSensics, a globally recognized provider of wearable technologies and sensor platforms for clinical research and medical applications.
“BioSensics’ technologies include innovative solutions for aging-in-place, telehealth, chronic disease management, stroke, physical therapy, and rehabilitation,” Barchard said. “Our first consumer product, CliQ, is a versatile smart sensor that empowers users to form healthier habits, safeguard what matters, and control the smart home. We’ve taken to Kickstarter to crowdfund CliQ”
As a company, BioSensics has been designing and building products for the medical device industry for over 10 years.
“This includes industrial design, engineering, manufacturing, and logistics,” he said. “Some recent projects that we’ve been working on include research studies funded by NiH for clinical trials, such as for detecting falls for Seniors and assisting stroke victims with rehabilitation. These solutions consist of custom Bluetooth low-energy pendants designed by BioSensics paired with a cloud-connected Android tablet. As we enter into the consumer IoT market, we will be leveraging our experience and expertise in software and app design and hardware manufacturing to bring our innovative device to market.”
Bachard and the team are excited about how quickly they were able to meet their goal on Kickstarter.
“We’re excited to see CliQ clicking with so many different people,” he said.
As a marketer I am extremely interested in learning about their go-to-market strategy.
“After the Kickstarter is funded we will move immediately to DFM (Design for Manufacture), including finalizing the sensor form factor and testing for environmental durability,” Bachard said. “In parallel, we will be moving the CliQ companion app to the beta phase. By the Summer of 2018 we will be releasing CliQ to our early supporters, focusing on getting the first units into the hands of the Kickstarter backers.”
He also said that in the future the plan is to have CliQ will be available through major online retailers and through CliQ’s online store.
“CliQ has been in development for over 14 months,” Bachard said. “It initially started as a solution for helping individuals with medication adherence by tracking when medicine bottles were opened. However, we quickly realized the device could encompass so many other uses, and so CliQ was born.”
The CliQ team believes that while anyone and everyone can benefit from incorporating CliQ, smart home enthusiasts and entrepreneurs are the early adopters, as well as tech-savvy health nuts and productivity geeks.
“CliQ differentiates itself from the market with its unprecedented versatility,” he said. “While other IoT consumer products only work with smart devices, CliQ’s go-anywhere nature lets you add smart functionality to almost any object, whether it’s a water bottle, or your sneakers. In addition, most other products only respond to manual stimuli like a button press or hand wave, but CliQ adds two sophisticated dimensions of motion sensing. This means you can activate CliQ using natural movements you already make. And because the user gets to customize CliQ using the app and even collaborate with other users on ideas, it’s the most personalized, inspired, and community-driven way to take advantage of IoT.”
Bachard said that the team is excited to finally share their vision of CliQ with the global community.
“Launching on Kickstarter is a genuinely exciting moment for us, and we appreciate everyone’s support,” he said. “The future of consumer IoT will be flexible, simple to use, and platform agnostic for easy integration. Right now, there’s really no straightforward way to integrate the smart home; you’re dealing with a lot of disparate devices that don’t necessarily play well together. A device like CliQ lets your centralize the control and management of everything, and even adds analytics and tracking to the mix.”