Design
Spread thin along the back, not stacked in the buckle
The hard part of a wearable is not the electronics, it is where you put them so the thing is still comfortable after eight hours. Almost every choice here comes from that.
The body side, labelled. Two haptic zones at the hips, the battery and control electronics along the back, USB-C behind a cover.
- 1Left hip haptics
- 2Right hip haptics
- 3Power / control spine
- 4USB-C, under a cover
The layout has a name we use internally, the distributed spine, and it means what it sounds like. Instead of one thick module, the parts are spread into flat zones: a 96 mm run of battery and control electronics along the small of your back, one 50 mm haptic zone at each hip, and a 42 mm dock on the lower right edge of the buckle.
Nothing in that list is thicker than 4.8 mm. Under the microfibre liner it reads as one continuous surface, with four shallow valleys that let the belt bend where it needs to. The alternative, a single block, is easier to build and much worse to wear.
The buckle itself contains no electronics at all beyond the button. It is a machined mechanical part, 66 by 41 by 11.8 mm, and its only job is to close the belt and hold the dock.
Decisions
Four questions people ask straight away
Why not put everything in the buckle?
A buckle big enough to hold a battery, two motors, a board and a charging dock stops being a buckle. It would be roughly the size of a matchbox and it would press into you every time you sat down. Spreading the parts along the strap keeps any single lump under 5 mm thick.
Why does the leather carry the load?
Because flex cables fail and batteries do not like being pulled. The mechanical path runs leather to buckle to leather, and the electronics hang off it without ever being structural. Pull hard on the belt and you are pulling on leather and metal only.
Why one earpiece and not two?
Two means a case, twice the charging, twice the pairing, and a decision every time you take one out. One mono module is enough for a voice answer or a call, it charges in the dock, and there is only one of it to lose.
Why Android first?
The notification access and automation this depends on is available on Android and mostly is not on iOS. Building Android first is not a preference, it is the only version that can do what the page describes. An iPhone version will be more limited and we will list exactly how.
Status
What is actually built
Renders are cheap and prototypes are not. Here is the line between the two, kept up to date.
- Product definition and dimensionsDone
- Industrial design and 3D modelDone
- Brand, site and waitlistLive
- Haptic left/right test with real peopleNext up
- Bench electronics: Bluetooth, button, motorsNot started
- Wearable prototypeNot started
- Companion appNot started
The next thing that happens is the cheapest and most important test in the whole plan: two vibration motors, a few people, and the question of whether a tap at the hip reliably reads as left or right through a layer of clothing. If that fails, the navigation idea fails, and no amount of industrial design saves it.
We would rather publish that than a launch date.
Things this is not, so nobody is disappointed later
- Not a health or safety device. It measures nothing about your body.
- No camera, no GPS of its own, no cellular connection.
- Not always listening. There is no microphone that is on by default.
- Not waterproof to any rating we have tested, because we have tested none.
- Not a phone replacement. Without a phone it is a belt.
- Not on sale. There is no price and no ship date.
Told when it changes
The status list above is the thing we will email about. When a row moves, you hear.
Thinking about backing it instead? Read the investor page