This Singaporean startup is building a Fitbit for your brain, and it needs your help

Photo credit: Neeuro.

The fitness tech industry has come up with plenty of ways to monitor your health and your training regime. Your garden-variety Fitbit or Xiaomi Mi Band can give you information on your heart rate, the distances you run, how often you train, and more. So that takes care of the corpore sano but what about the mens sana part?

Singaporean startup Neeuro has stepped up to tackle that. It’s come up with a headband with electroencephalogram (EEG) capabilities – that’s a huge Greek word that means it’s reading your brainwaves. It’s called the Neeuro Senzeband and it’s basically a Fitbit for your mind – a comparison co-founder and CMO Kelly Choo is very enthusiastic about.

A render of the Neeuro Senzeband. Image credit: Neeuro.

Brain callisthenics

The Senzeband is equipped with EEG sensors, an accelerometer for tracking head movement, and bluetooth syncing to talk to your smartphone or tablet. It supports both iOS and Android devices. Its battery can last for up to four hours of usage.

The headband pairs with the Neeuro Memorie mobile app, also developed by the company. The app contains a number of games that can be played on a phone or a tablet, with the aim of stimulating particular areas of your brain and training your mind on specific tasks.

It’s called the Neeuro Senzeband and it’s basically a Fitbit for your mind.

The games have been designed with the help of neuroscientists so that users can train their brain in functions like memory, attention, spatial skills, multitasking, and decision making. For example, the game MindCopter requires your focus to fly a helicopter. Sitting Ducks, where the titular ducks change positions in a cartoon pond, challenges your memory and attention.

The app can then give you stats on your performance, let you know what functions of the brain you trained in, and give you goals to complete.

The idea is that, after our twenties, our brains inevitably start deteriorating as the excesses of our reckless youth take their toll. However, studies have shown that by keeping our brain active through proper training, we can delay that deterioration and avoid more serious brain afflictions in the future.

The gamified approach to this kind of mind workout isn’t new (titles like Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training by Nintendo spring to, erm, mind). Neeuro’s difference lies in using the Senzeband to actually monitor your brainwaves and thus the effect of your exercises. Its success will depend on whether the hardware lives up to its promise of providing demonstrable benefits for your brain functions.

Turning to the crowd

With the promise of a futuristic wearable that can help you hone your mind through gaming, it’s no surprise that Neeuro is currently smashing through its targets on Indiegogo. Its crowdfunding campaign kicked off at the start of the week and it’s already more than halfway to its goal of US$50,000 – with about a month to go.

Gearing up production