© EONEOMS

Continuing our focus from last week on companies that won the Innovation award at the 2019 Korea Electronics Show or KES, we’re going to introduce EONEOMS, the developer of a healthcare smart mirror that won the Best Content award. Let’s hear from EONEOMS CEO Nam Hyung-ho. 

Our product is a mirror with an inbuilt display, like a monitor screen or tablet, behind the glass. The smart mirror can be set on the walls of the bathroom or the front door. When a person stands in front of the mirror, it can identify the person through facial recognition and show his or her health information. 

The Internet of Things or IoT is one of the key sectors for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. While relevant technology can be employed for smart home services that control lighting or electricity systems, the use of IoT technology in healthcare remains limited. Taking note of this, we developed a smart mirror for healthcare applications. Connected with home devices designed to examine one’s health condition, the smart mirror can show users their health information, including basic information about human body composition, teeth and skin. The information can be accumulated every day to create big data, through which the smart mirror can also offer advice on one’s health, hospitals in the neighborhood and customized healthcare products. 

The silvered-glass mirrors we use today were invented in Germany 200 years ago. Apart from the mirror’s original function to show one’s reflection, leaders in the fashion and beauty industries have wondered how to modify clothes, hair styles or makeup by adding smart technology to mirrors. Other types of smart mirrors can function as large tablet PCs that allow users to surf the web or watch TV. 

But there are few smart mirrors that can be used for healthcare. Users of EONEOMS smart mirror can check their health conditions at home conveniently. 

This smart mirror starts working as soon as you enter your home. The mirror set on the shoe closet by the front door is connected with the air shower system installed on the ceiling. When you walk through the front door, the smart mirror operates the system, which shakes off the fine dust on your clothes. When you lie down on your bed, our IoT-based sleep sensor analyzes your heartbeat, breathing, sleep apnea and tossing and turning during sleep. When you wake up and stand in front of the smart mirror in the bathroom, the mirror recognizes your face and shows your sleeping pattern from the previous night as well as information about your skin and body composition. Using this information that is accumulated each day, the device offers additional services like seeking a doctors’ advice or locating clinics. 

These days, many new apartments are equipped with an air shower system, which eliminates fine dust from the outside when residents open the front door and enter their homes. EONEOMS’ smart mirror mounted on the door of the shoe closet automatically activates the air shower. The mirror also recognizes the users’ faces and shows different kinds of information on its display.

The smart mirror set on the wall of the bathroom is connected with the smart bed that measures the users’ sleeping conditions and compiles data from them. While washing their faces, users can check their health conditions, see news updates or get real-time information about public transportation. This healthy, intelligent device has taken a step further from existing smart mirrors, thanks to the company’s advanced technology. 

© EONEOMS

In addition to mirrors, we also provide other smart products for healthcare. For that purpose, we’ve developed hardware and software that allow connections to other devices inside the house. In the case of the smart mirror, we’ve tried to connect it with devices in bathrooms, front doors and bedrooms. 

Our company was set up in 2011. At the time, a smart mirror functioned as a television when turned on by remote control and became a big square mirror when turned off. But smart mirrors have evolved to feature various other functions since the spread of smartphones. Now, they come with a touch-screen display and can be connected with nearby appliances or smartphone apps. 

Mr. Nam focused on the development of software as well as hardware, in the belief that connectivity would comprise the core of smart mirrors. As a result, his company was able to secure facial recognition technology. It developed the world’s first sleep analyzer capable of examining one’s breathing conditions during sleep, based on Bluetooth, WiFi and IoT functions, and integrated it into the electrically operated bed. The company then developed a smart mirror connected with the sleep sensor to provide relevant health information. Currently, the innovative product is installed at future house exhibition halls operated by large construction firms in Korea. Starting from next year, EONEOMS will export its products overseas in earnest. 

Smart mirrors have been placed in only a small number of luxurious homes in Saudi Arabia, Russia and some Southeast Asian countries. Our products that will be released next March will be internationally certified soon. We plan to export our goods to the U.S. and Southeast Asia first. In Southeast Asia, we’re interested in Vietnam and Thailand for now, but we’ll continue to expand our export destinations. 

Smart mirrors are often found in exhibitions for display products, but they have yet to be deployed on a commercial scale due to their high prices and the limits of their applicability. To resolve these shortcomings, EONEOMS has been working on ways to lower prices and secure various applicable contents, like the provision of health information. 

The company plans on installing its smart mirrors in commercial spaces as well. 

We’re working on smart mirrors that can be used not only in residences but also in commercial buildings. When a customer enters a store, for example, the smart mirror identifies the customer through facial recognition. It collects information about the customer, including gender, age, movements and what kinds of products he or she purchased. After forming big data from the collected information, the device may serve as a payment kiosk as well. We’ll continue to develop IoT, big data and AI-based products that can be utilized in residential and commercial spaces alike. 

The mirror is one of the most-used items in everyday life. People look in the mirror when washing their faces, brushing their teeth and putting on clothes. We’re looking forward to the future of this company that has made our lives more convenient by adding IoT functions to this daily necessity.