Project Overview

Motiv Ring is a highly-advanced micro-wearable and tracker changing the way people measure activity, heart rate and sleep. As the wearable space evolves, it’s gravitating towards small and unobtrusive devices that blend seamlessly into our lives. Where most tracking wearables in the space are either wrist-based or “Super Bowl”- esque rings, Motiv has compressed and created new advanced technology to deliver a sleek yet highly functional product. Motiv Ring is subtle and slender, and absent of ostentatious, bulky technology and needy user interface.

Organisation

Motiv Inc.

Team

Curt von Badinski, Peter Twiss, Mike Strasser, Eric Strasser and Motiv Team

Project Brief

Motiv Ring is small, yet mighty. Roughly the size of a penny (about 8 millimeters wide), the ring’s sleek and unobtrusive form makes it the perfect 24/7 wearable. The device is constructed to be incredibly durable, with a waterproof form, titanium build, and a lengthy battery life of 3-5 days. Even greater is that Motiv Ring packs impressive technology punch – including a Bluetooth transceiver, 3-axis accelerometer, optical heart rate sensor and custom-built curved lithium ion battery. Motiv Ring tracks a number of useful active metrics – steps, calories burned, heart rate, activity type, distance traveled, and sleep.

Motiv Ring pairs with an app aimed at presenting digestible data on users’ health. The ring utilizes active minutes: the amount of time one exerts energy by sustained moderate-intensity aerobic activity. The app gives users goal cards, earned after 10+ active minutes each day. It enables adjustable daily goals based on user activity and logging capabilities to track any minutes that may have been missed. The ring tracks a number of active metrics – steps, calories burned, heart rate, activity type, and distance traveled. This simple metric overview helps motivate users to hit 150 active minutes per week, a goal based on the American Heart Association’s recommended weekly activity for adults. The ring’s app also helps users better understand sleep patterns through simple charts and graphs.

The ring is a solution for everyone and anyone looking for a 24/7 understanding of health and movement.

Project Innovation/Need

Motiv’s founders were determined to design a device that could be worn all the time.

Co-founder Curt von Badinski was fed up with what was available on the market: clunky wrist-worn devices. He wanted to create something that would give him insight on his health, but didn’t need a lot of fussing with, and took up limited space on the body. His a-ha moment? Picking out a wedding ring with his brother and recognizing the ring as a universally worn, comfortable form. Motiv’s goal was set: create something as unobtrusive and slim as a wedding band with activity tracking functionality.

Technology such as the unique flex circuit and the custom-built curved lithium ion battery were created specifically for the ring’s small stature. Motiv Ring is an intentional departure from a one-size-fits-all approach to form factor. Customers receive a ring sizing kit in the mail to test out seven potential ring sizes to ensure the right fit; once the size is selected, Motiv ships the personalized and properly sized device to to the customer. The perfected fit keeps the device comfortably snug on the user, while allowing for optimal and concise data tracking.

Design Challenge

Size. The creation and design of something so small was a massive challenge. The founders brought to Motiv Ring unique perspectives as former product designers, technologists, marketing executives and engineers at companies including Apple, NASA, CISCO, Intel and IDEO. This collective experience enabled them to design, engineer, manufacture and build Motiv Ring, pioneering and creating everything from the Ring’s sleek form to its powerful electrical components. Every component of Motiv Ring was carefully considered and stripped down. The charging mechanism, a USB port, magnetically snaps onto the side of the Ring to charge, fitting a keychain for easy access. The device is also constructed to be incredibly durable – from its waterproof form and titanium build to a lengthy battery life, fitting the polished technology to the haphazard human experience, rather than the other way around. Motiv Ring’s microtechnology - the guts - only adds to its impeccable design story. The founders refused to budge on size, pushing massively on the preexisting boundaries of wearable construction in the process.

Sustainability

Motiv Ring comes in seven sizes. To help customers select their proper size, Motiv determined that a ring sizing kit with seven sample rings that could be easily shipped to customers was the best solution. While these ring sizing kits could have been poorly made for singular use and then discarded, Motiv decided to make the packaging recyclable and the rings shareable to reduce the impact on landfills. Motiv encourages users to share the sizing kits with their friends in exchange for a discount on their ring. Through this incentivised referral program, Motiv is encouraging the reuse of materials to reduce environmental impact.