Power Toothbrushes Engage Kids, Collect Data With Digital Apps
Executive Summary
Colgate Smart Electronic Toothbrush E1 is available exclusively on Apple.com and in select Apple stores for $99.95. The product is similar to a device sold in Europe by French firm Kolibree, which also introduced a children’s smart toothbrush featuring augmented reality to encourage brushing.
French digital technology firm Kolibree SAS is following up its collaboration on Colgate-Palmolive Co.'s launch of a power toothbrush featuring artificial intelligence to improve brushing with a children’s device containing an augmented reality app to “gamify” brushing.
Kolibree, which provided AI technology for the recently launched ColgateSmart Electronic Toothbrush E1, says its Magik children's brush "bridges the gap between oral hygiene and fun by connecting" toothbrushes, through AR technology, to a game installed in a smartphone application. Magik’s app offers 15 "worlds" users can access after syncing their brushes with the app.
The brush and app coordinate to guide children to hit the right spots brushing because proper brushing helps defeat monsters in the gaming app, the company said Jan. 7. The app, compatible with iOS and Android systems, also allows access by parents or other caregivers to track the users' brushing data.
Kolibree says its Magik children's toothbrush linked to an augmented reality app "bridges the gap between oral hygiene and fun.
In an email, Kolibree CEO Thomas Serval emphasized the effectiveness of products like Magik to encourage children to brush properly.
“Studies show that supervision and gamification improve compliance for both kids and adults. We expect dentists to recommend more and more of this segment” as kids “are very fast adopters of the gamified toothbrush and it shows immediate impact on their daily hygiene,” said Serval.
He added thta Kolibree will build on the technology. “Magik is the start of our vision to transform the way children approach oral care routines, from an obligatory chore to a fun and educational pillar of their nighttime routine.”
The Paris-based firm, which has a US office in New York, did not disclose Magik's suggested retail price and US launch date.
AI In Colgate Brush
Launched recently in the US is the Colgate Smart E1 equipped with Kolibree's AI technology for providing real-time user feedback for better brushing and collecting data, from opt-in users, to drive additional innovations.
The brush, designed also with dentists' input, is Bluetooth-connected and features real-time 3D sensors and AI algorithms to assess 16 “zones” of the mouth. It alerts users to where they missed brushing through the Colgate Connect app compatible with iOS-enabled devices.
Colgate Smart E1 is equipped with AI technology for providing real-time user feedback for better brushing and collecting data, from opt-in users, to drive innovations.
Consumer brushing information is collected and compiled for research if users opt in, Colgate says. Data are sent to Apple ResearchKit, an open source framework that makes an iOS app a medical research tool, Apple says.
“The first step to improving brushing is to understand consumers’ brushing habits, and Apple ResearchKit has proved to be a powerful tool for this,” Colgate Chief Technology Patricia Verduin stated in a release.
Colgate is launching exclusively on Apple.com and in select Apple stores at a suggested retail price of $99.95.
Kolibree Launched AI Brush In 2017
Kolibree, which bills itself as the pioneer in embedding connected toothbrushes with artificial intelligence and 3D motion sensors, in January 2017 made a similar brush, branded Ara, available in Europe and other markets outside the US and online.
The firm's website notes Ara is the first toothbrush to incorporate AI and records frequency of brushing, duration and “brushed zones” inside the toothbrush itself. The product, which is iOS- and Android-compatible, retails for $129 on the Ara website, which refers US consumers making online purchases to the Colgate Smafrt E1.
"Ara shows how well you are brushing commonly missed areas such as the posterior areas of the molars, said dental hygienist Elizabeth Farrell, who is on Kolibree's professional outreach staff, in a statement.
Procter & Gamble Co. invested in Bluetooth connective toothbrushes in its 2014 launch of Oral B SmartSeries 7000 toothbrush, which similarly communicates through a smartphone app where consumers need to focus brushing more, the amount of time they have brushed and if they brush too hard. (Also see "P&G Tech Toothbrush May Foretell OTC Switch Future" - Pink Sheet, 6 Mar, 2014.)
The product focuses on mouth quadrants, rather than 16 zones targeted by the Colgate Smart E1, and provides real time information to users' dentists and offers six brushing modes: daily, deep or tongue clean, whitening, massage and sensitive.
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