U.S. technology giant Amazon has devised a new
motion-sensor technology for an airbag that can protect your gadgets
including smartphones, cameras and tablets from cracking when dropped.
The system uses motion sensors, already built into most smartphones, to
detect when a phone has been dropped — and the mini airbag is then
deployed before it hits the floor.
A traditional airbag in cars is deployed upon impact, cushioning the passengers’ heads as they are thrust forward.
The phone system hopes to use similar techniques to prevent damage to the mobile upon inevitable impact.
The idea is the brainchild of retail and technology giant Amazon, which
has patented the protective system for mobile phones, electronic
readers such as Amazon’s own Kindle, computer tablets and cameras, the
‘Daily Mail’ reported.
This week the company won
approval for the patent, which was filed in America by Amazon’s founder,
Jeff Bezos, 48, a self—made billionaire who has forged a career from
pioneering ideas.
“Prior to impact between a surface
and a device, a determination of a risk of damage to the device is
made. If the risk of damage to the device exceeds a threshold, a
protection system is activated to reduce or eliminate damage to the
device,” the patent said.
The patent details a
system that utilises a gadget’s built—in gyroscope, camera,
accelerometers and other onboard sensors in order to determine if the
device has entered an airborne state.
If it has, the
technology will release airbags to reduce potential damage — or
possibly even change the trajectory of its fall by firing jets of air.
“This sounds like a feature worthy of Bond, codename SOS SMS. But
airbags for windbags sounds like a lot of hot air to me. From a
logistical point of view, the handset would have to be rather bulky to
hide an airbag,” said Ernest Doku, telecoms expert at uSwitch.com.
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