Wearable, Functional, Fashionable AO,LLC IP

Sometimes, it is not enough to simply come up with a product or application that works well. For the devices that we keep closest to us, we often require a more personal connection to our technology. With that in mind AO, LLC, is developing a one-touch wireless recorder that can be worn as jewelry.

The owner of AO is h.Takumi Tanaka, who worked as a fashion designer in Europe before bringing his sense of style to a new product called CLIP VoICe, a tiny Bluetooth-connected voice recorder that can be worn as an attractive, and technologically functional, accessory.
“I didn’t just want to create something to wear but something more useful,” Tanaka says. “I wanted to contribute more to society through my work.”

One of the biggest strengths of Tanaka’s CLIP VoICe is its small size – it measures three by four centimeters and weighs only 19 grams, allowing it to be worn on a shirt or lapel. The current model of the device can record up to 40 minutes’ of messages. Connected via a low-energy Bluetooth connection and a companion app called CLIP, the system can upload and tag recordings with a user ID and GPS information. As Tanaka explains, these tags could allow the CLIP VoICe to link specific voice data to a variety of locations, which could then be played back to other users of the app when they come to those spots.

The look of CLIP VoICe speaks to Tanaka’s design background. Inspired by the geometric arrangement of rocks in one of the gardens of Kyoto’s Ryoan-ji Temple, the recorder’s surgical steel exterior is shaped like a multifaceted stone. Users are as likely to be drawn to the features of the device as they will to its unique looks.

Tanaka adds that future versions will look less like jewelry and more like shirt buttons, and the modularity of the device could give it the capability of connecting directly to the cloud. Thanks to its wearability, CLIP VoICe could be used in home nursing, for example, allowing caregivers to record patient details with one touch, with no need to hold a recorder in their hand. These recordings could be tagged with the GPS data of a patient’s home, giving substitute staff easy access to updated details about their patients.