https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/686608668/ridm-professional-grade-body-composition-analysis?
What is the singular, deciding indication of good health? Is it the heart-monitor that sits under your smartwatch? Is it the sleep tracker on your fitness band? Is it the weighing machine in your bathroom? Is there even one single unit of measurement for health? The answer isn’t a clear yes or no, but measuring your health does require keeping in account a lot of variables… but pretty much all of those variables can be traced back to one sort of measurement, the BCA, or the Body Composition Analysis.
Body Composition Analysis, or BCA for short, as the name suggests, measures the composition of your body, analyzing every single detail rather than just your heart-rate or your weight. Measured using Bio-electrical impedance analysis (BIA) machines, BCA gives you an overview on every single detail, from your overall weight, to water weight, to muscle mass, skeletal muscle mass, basal metabolic rate, body type, etc., analyzing every single detail of your body before determining whether you’re ‘healthy’ or not.
BIA machines have been around since the 80s, finding their way, since then, into clinics and even gyms. By the 90s, two technological advancements helped pioneer and validate the accuracy of BIA measurements, direct measurement of body segments and multi-frequency measurement. Under normal circumstances, these two technologies were integrated into high-end machines that would cost a fortune, but given how advanced mobile chipsets have become in the past few years, smartphones are capable of harnessing the power of BIA too, to measure one’s body composition.
The RIDM is the world’s first smartphone-compatible portable BCA measuring device that’s capable of using both direct measurement and multi-frequency measurement. Smaller than an ice-hockey puck, the RIDM comes with high end sensors that can pick up on every detail of your body (and not just your heart rate) with just 7 seconds of use. Using the RIDM requires following a step-by-step process to ensure perfect accuracy. Only your fingertips make contact with the sensors, and you need to make sure no body part is in contact with another body part. It’s recommended that one should wait for a few hours after eating or exercising to get an accurate measurement of your BCA, and when doing so, no metallic objects must be present on one’s body, like rings, bracelets, earrings, necklaces, etc.
As your fingertips rest against RIDM’s sensors, it picks up various details about your body, analyzing it on a cellular level based on your body’s ability to resist or impede small alternating currents. Unlike devices that sit on your person all the time, like health trackers, the RIDM’s accessory nature allows you to use it only when you need. Its tiny size and 5-month battery life makes the RIDM perfect for carrying around on you, and with its hook attachment, the RIDM can hang anywhere in your house, waiting to be used next. The tiny, state-of-the-art device partners with your smartphone, breaking down all the data it gathers and presenting it to you through its intuitive, easy-to-understand UI. Riding on the current tech trend of using IoT devices and AI to enhance human fitness, the RIDM isn’t quite like the competition. The first and only portable machine to measure one’s BCA, the RIDM provides a much more accurate picture of your stats, giving you a more informed answer to the question “am I healthy?”
Designer: RIDM
Click here to Buy Now: $49.00 $99.00 (50% off expected MSRP)
RIDM is the first portable device with body composition analysis (BCA) accuracy equivalent to professional-grade bio-electrical impedance analysis (BIA) machines.
The Endless Struggle
We’ve all been there. It’s all too easy to get frustrated and simply give up when results stop showing. Getting fit is a lifestyle, not a 6-week program. Let RIDM keep you motivated by showing results even when they don’t show up on a mirror or on a scale.
Portable & Convenient
For monitoring changes to body composition, they recommend one session per day. Unlike fitness trackers or wearables, RIDM doesn’t need to be worn 24/7. Each session only requires a minute or so, so you can spend less time checking and more time doing. For best accuracy, try to be consistent with both time of measurement and measurement posture.
Pocket-sized
Compact and portable, RIDM allows you to check body composition just about anywhere. Measuring in at 2.28 (diameter) x .51 (width) inches and weighing in at an ultralight 32 grams, there’s always ample room in your purse, tote or backpack to carry RIDM.
One Charge, 5 Months
With your smartphone, laptop, smartwatch, you already have enough devices to remember to charge. After one full charge, RIDM can provide enough measurements for nearly half a year. A micro USB cable will be included with RIDM for charging.
Two Measurement Modes
Easy-mode offers a one-step scan. Simply hold the first pose for 7 seconds. Measure in easy-mode for your daily quick scan.
Segmental-mode measures your body composition across five body cross-sections. In segmental-mode hold each pose for 7 seconds. The process can be completed in under one minute. Measure in segmental mode every week or so for a more in-depth analysis.
Personal & Discreet
It’s YOUR fitness journey, so we definitely understand the need for privacy. Health data is never saved or sent to any remote server. With no printed reports, your data is only accessible by you through RIDM’s companion app. If you change phones, you can still retrieve your past health logs by utilizing data back-up on your RIDM app.
Re-think, Re-design BCA
Previously, BCA devices were only available in the form of scales or bands. RIDM completely re-thinks what a BCA device can look like and how it can be experienced. Accurate health data in a device small enough to fit in your pocket.
RIDM’s case adds a playful accent to a minimalist and un-intrusive design. With an intuitive hook design, RIDM can be hung from any number of surfaces. Made of soft and pliable rubber, the hook case provides simple storage and a comfortable grip during measurement.
Why Body Composition Matters
For health, what is important is not body weight, but body composition. At the same weight, someone with high body fat and low muscle mass will be vulnerable to health risks, decreased immunity and more rapid aging. Body composition also is reflected in body shape or visual appearance.
Even if you are at a healthy weight, a beer belly means an excess of visceral fat, which can increase risk of cardiovascular disease and type-2 diabetes. In your 30s, muscle mass naturally begins to decrease. Starting at 40, if you’re physically inactive, total muscle mass can decrease up to 1% every year. Healthy development of muscle mass alone, can improve overall fitness and lower risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and hip disease.
Check your Body Composition
Analyze your body composition and see the results in an intuitive one-screen health report. RIDM analyzes the body even beyond basic statistics such as weight, body fat, & skeletal muscle.
Accounting for segmental lean, RIDM can pin-point imbalances in the body while also accounting for total water weight, skeletal muscle mass, basal metabolic rate. A written report, briefly summarizes your body type and what lifestyle changes can benefit your overall health.
Learn what Works for You
Monitor changes and set goals through the RIDM app. With RIDM, health data is broken down by category into easy to follow charts and graphs. By tracking changes to your body, learn what diet and exercises are most effective, specific to your body composition.
One-screen visuals track weight, muscle mass and body fat percentage separately. RIDM can track indefinitely and is only limited by your phone’s storage capacity. Want to track activity? Simply sync to your Google Health, iHealth app or FitBit and activity logs will be displayed directly on the RIDM companion app.
A Breakthrough in BIA
Commercial BIA machines have been around since the mid-1980s. In the 1990s technological advancements in BIA, notably direct measurement of body segments and multi-frequency measurement, validated the accuracy of BIA to the clinical research community. However, while these two core technologies have been integrated into BCA scales, the limitations of mobile chipsets made these capabilities impossible in portable devices.
High-end BCA machines are priced at $5000 ~ $20,000 and gyms will often charge $15-$40 per-use. More consumer-friendly devices have since appeared in the form of smart scales or bands, but what they make up for in price, they sacrifice in accuracy. RIDM provides accuracy equivalent to professional-grade BCA machines for under the cost of two BCA readings.
Bio-electrical Impedance Analysis
Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), analyzes your body composition on the cellular level. By sending a small alternating current through the body and tracking electrical resistance, BIA is capable of measuring total body water, as resistance fluctuates based on the amount of water in the body. From this measurement, fat-free body mass, body weight and body fat can be derived.
Multi-frequency Measurement
Your body contains an incredibly large number of cells, made up of both intracellular and extracellular fluid. Lower frequency currents can only measure extracellular water. Meanwhile, higher frequency currents are needed to pass through cell walls measuring intracellular water mass.
As a measure of total body water, fluid build-up or edema, used to cause large inaccuracy in BIA analysis. However, multi-frequency measurement highly improves accuracy with the ability to gauge both extracellular and intracellular water mass. Whereas traditional BCA machines used a single frequency at 50kHz, RIDM operates across a range of five frequencies, alleviating discrepancies due to hydration levels.
Segmental Measurment
The majority of BCA devices guess fat percentage based on a singular scan of the upper or lower body. The results of these incomplete readings are then inputted into a set algorithm to estimate body composition as a whole.
The problem? These partial readings cannot account for individualized imbalances in the body. No body is 100% evenly distributed and imbalances occur between the right/left side and upper/lower body. RIDM’s unique segmental-lean measurement accounts for imbalances in the body by measuring across five body cross-sections.
Click here to Buy Now: $49.00 $99.00 (50% off expected MSRP)
