CES 2015: Baby’s First IoT; 4Moms' App-Controlled Infant Seat

At CES’s Pepcom Digital Experience, 4moms, a robotics company that makes high-tech baby gear, showed off its rather nifty app-controlled infant seat, the mamaRoo.

The Bluetooth-enabled gadget brings the Internet of Things (IoT) to your baby, allowing parents to control the seat’s motions, speeds, and sounds directly from their smartphone (iOS or Android).

The sleek LCD interface offers a range of rocking motions -- Car Ride, Kangaroo, Tree Swing, Rock-a-Bye, and Ocean -- to lull your screaming infant to sleep without -- heaven forbid -- cramping your own arms in the process.

The chair even issues sounds, including what the company calls “a soothing new heartbeat sound,” in case that also helps to shush your little screamer. Parents can also hook up their own Mp3 player in case they’d rather rock their baby out to Guns N' Roses.

CEO Rob Daley said parents had been asking the company to build a remote for their previous model so they could control the mamaRoo “without disturbing their baby while they rest or play.” Hence the app.

Also seen at CES

To create the natural movements, 4moms said it used accelerometer vests to record parents as they soothed their infants and identified patterns among those motions. The company then developed the motion control software and dual-axis coordinated motion robotic platform to allow the mamaRoo to “move like you do.”

The new version of the mamaRoo is already for sale on the company’s site for $240 for the classic, or $270 for the plush. The firm also plans to distribute at Babies“R”Us, buybuy Baby, and Target.

MamaRoo wasn’t the only baby-focused product at CES. Another smart gizmo being shown off to attendees was the TempTraq, a Bluetooth-enabled sticker that can monitor the temperature of a baby for up to 24 hours, relaying the information to a parent’s smartphone.

Finally, a useful wearable device!

Design engineers and professionals, the West Coast’s most important design, innovation, and manufacturing event, Pacific Design & Manufacturing, is taking place in Anaheim, Feb. 10-12, 2015. A Design News event, Pacific Design & Manufacturing is your chance to meet qualified suppliers, get hands-on access to the latest technologies, be informed from a world-class conference program, and expand your network. (You might even meet a Design News editor.) Learn more about Pacific Design & Manufacturing here.