mCube: a new type of miniature accelerometer that can turn even clothes into a fitness tracker

MCube announced the chip of the same name, a new type of accelerometer, which, at a very small size, differs from its analogues in lower energy consumption.

The mCube is just a millimeter thick, about half the size of a conventional accelerometer. In addition, the developers claim that their chip is more accurate, more economical in terms of energy consumption than traditional accelerometers, but costs less.

Accelerometers usually consist of two functional elements: a mechanical device that senses movement / vibration, and a chip that converts all this into electrical signals, transmitting information to the general circuit of the device.

MCube developers managed to put both components in a single chip, while not only managed to reduce the size of the element itself, but also to improve the sensitivity of the system. The developers claim that mCube is able to replace the traditional gyroscope in mobile devices, which will allow equipping motion sensors with even the most inexpensive smartphone models.

It is worth noting that mCube is not a theoretical development, 70 million of these chips have already been shipped to Chinese manufacturers of mobile devices, so very soon such devices with mCube will appear on the market. The chip maker recently received $ 37 million in investments, and is planning to scale production, expanding to other markets.

Integrating the mCube accelerometer into clothing is the company's long-term goal. Due to its small size, this chip can be placed in any sportswear, including socks, and turn clothes into a fitness tracker. Of course, such a system will not measure the pulse, but mCube is quite able to track the quality and correctness of a stroke when playing golf.

Via technologyreview