These smart snowboard bindings aim to get you off your butt and down the slope

Tokyo-based internet of things (IoT) startup Cerevo – short for “consumer electronics revolution” – made a splash at CES 2015 yesterday when it unveiled a smart snowboard binding dubbed the XON SNOW-1. Despite being a bit out of place in the Las Vegas desert, the high-tech bindings were made to shred the snowy slopes – and help you become a better rider.

The SNOW-1s look like a relatively ordinary pair of bindings. If anything, they look a bit minimalistic compared to what you might find at the local board shop, devoid of the flashy colors and bold branding. They also appear to be a bit on the tall side, in order to make room for an array of sensors that transmit data to your smartphone via Bluetooth 4.0 LE.

Each binding has four load sensors situated under each foot, which are used to measure a rider’s weight shift and their center of gravity. Two distortion sensors – one at the nose and one at the tail – can monitor how much the board flexes on each end, and an accelerometer gauges speed. LED lights in the heel and toe of each binding can be set up to indicate load pressure – or simply be used for safety when riding at night.

By analyzing the SNOW-1’s feedback, which is sent to a free companion app for iOS and Android, Cerevo claims that beginner snowboarders can speed up the sport’s notoriously sharp learning curve. For example, at the end of a run, a new rider could check to see if they’re leaning to one side too much or placing too much weight on the wrong foot.

Additionally, the app can overlay collected data on a video clip (assuming you’ve got some kind of GoPro-esque mount for your smartphone or a friend that doesn’t mind recording you). It does this by utilizing the smartphone’s GPS, which also allows the app to generate a map of your run.

Snowboarders can be a picky bunch, and brand loyalty runs deep – take it from yours truly, an avid powder hound for the past 17 years. Why didn’t Cerevo simply design an attachment for existing bindings?

“There are many cons to making an attachment instead of designing a specific binding,” Hiroumi Mitani, Cerevo’s vice president of global sales and marketing, tells Tech in Asia. “If we insert the attachment between the normal bindings and boots, they would become taller. We also thought it will be more difficult to measure accurate data since it would be used with various bindings. Universal products tend to have ugly designs because you need to adapt them to many different situations, and they actually cost more.”

Mitani maintains that the SNOW-1 are no taller than ordinary bindings, but you can judge the photos for yourself. He also says that they use the standard four-hole disc format, making them compatible with most boards. The companion app allows riders to specify whether they prefer regular or goofy stance, and the sensors can be calibrated for different riding styles (i.e. all mountain vs. freestyle).

One thing that park and pipe riders may call a missed opportunity is the lack of a sensor for capturing data related to airtime, jump height, and jump distance, though Mitani says the accelerometer can detect when you’ve jumped.

Cerevo anticipates the SNOW-1 bindings to fall within the US$400-US$600 range – a little bit on the pricey side compared to low-tech alternatives – and go on sale in summer 2015. Mitani adds that sizing has yet to be finalized (a point of contention for those of us with big feet).