CES 2018: Samsung Announces Glasses For The Visually Challenged, Other C-Lab Innovations

Samsung is gearing up for this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada. Though the South Korea tech giant isn’t going to launch its next flagship phone, the Galaxy S9, at the annual event, there are other things from the company that attendees and fans should watch out for.

This Tuesday, the Galaxy Note 8 maker took to its online newsroom to announce the three C-Lab (Creative Lab) projects that it will be showcasing at next week’s CES. One device is called “Relúmĭno,” and it is a pair of eyeglasses for the visually challenged, another is a recovery solution for people with damaged lungs, and the third one is a portable directional speaker.

The Relúmĭno glasses are designed to help people with vision problems see images clearer when they are viewing objects or reading a book. The name originates from Latin, and it means “to return back the light.” It is actually a follow-up to the Relúmĭno app that Samsung first introduced at Mobile World Congress 2017.

When Samsung launched the Relúmĭno app, it was first made to work in conjunction with the Gear VR headset. Now that the Relúmĭno glasses are in the process of becoming available to consumers, Samsung is encouraging users to use the new spectacles instead. The Relúmĭno glasses work in conjunction with a smartphone by utilizing the latter’s processor and battery.

Explaining how the new invention works, Samsung says, “The smartphone processes images from videos projected through the camera of the glasses, and the processed images are floated into the display of the Relúmĭno glasses to help the wearer see things better.”

Another C-Lab invention that Samsung is showcasing at CES 2018 is GoBreath, a recovery solution for those who have suffered postoperative pulmonary complications after general anesthesia and people with damaged lungs. Unlike conventional methods, GoBreath facilitates deep breathing exercises for recovery of the lungs with the help of a portable device and a mobile app.

The app that’s built to be the device’s companion is designed to teach patients the proper ways to inspiration, coughing and deep breathing. The app also keeps track of lung recovery, so users can check on it to see how their lungs are doing after the exercise. What makes GoBreath even more useful is it sends its collected data to the web and a cloud service, so that doctors can easily retrieve them for monitoring of a patient’s progress.

Finally, Samsung is also introducing S-Ray (Sound-Ray) at CES 2018. The invention is a portable directional speaker that users can easily carry anywhere. The device is small and very light, so it is portable compared to conventional directional speakers. According to Samsung, S-Ray will eliminate the pain users experience when they use earphones for too long. It also avoids distractions from other Bluetooth speakers.