KDDI Mi-Look pedometer targets the elderly

Just what is so special about the KDDI Mi-Look pedometer? For starters, this GPS-capable device will cater for the elderly, as it sports a waterproof body so that a drop into the toilet bowl or a trip to the puddle of water is not going to faze it, while a QVGA display ought to be good enough to let even the elderly check out information on it without having to squint, and three main buttons keep things simple. Oh yeah, one more important aspect – the Mi-Look is also handy in communicating with family members.

Apart from that, it doubles up as an emergency buzzer – all you need to do is pull the strap, and off it goes to draw attention to yourself. According to a KDDI executive, “Often, people worry about their parents being alone, but can’t visit them often, and don’t want to keep calling them up either. In fact, that’s how it is with my parents. So we’ve designed the Mi-Look to let people keep an eye on their parents’ situation unobtrusively. We think there’s a big market for it.”

The Mi-Look will arrive in the Japan market later this September, in case you are interested (and living there, of course).

Edwin Kee
Categories: Gadgets
Tags: GPS, kddi, pedometer