Virgin Media wearable pauses your TV when you sleep

If you nod off watching Eastenders on Christmas Day after eating too much turkey, don’t fret because Virgin Media has you covered with its prototype KipstR wearable device.

The KipstR is the work of Ryan Oliver, 15, and Jonathan Kingsley, 14, students at Manchester Creative Studio, who teamed up with Virgin Media for the Switched on Futures initiative.

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The 3D printed device packs a pulse-oximeter that monitors the wearer’s heart rate and, when it drops enough to trigger the sleep mode, the Virgin Media TiVo box pauses and records what’s being missed. When you wake up (and your heart rate rises) the action carries on from where you left off.

Neil Illingworth, head of advanced technology and innovation at Virgin Media said: “We have been exploring the possibilities of connected entertainment for some time and are very excited to unveil KipstR.

“With emerging new technologies, it is possible to create almost anything, such as emotionally intelligent entertainment systems that can suggest shows based on your moods, or even harnessing brainwaves to control your television.”

We’ve seen similar innovation before. At a Netflix hackathon back in February a Fitbit One was hacked to automatically stop video playback when the user fell asleep. By analysing movements, the Fitbit app could tell when the user was falling asleep and stop what they were watching.

Virgin Media has said it is also exploring how the KipstR could tap into other smart devices in the home such as central heating.

If you’re a Virgin Media customer interesting in testing KipstR out this Christmas register your interest now.