Baby Tech that Even Dads Can Appreciate
Baby stuff mostly bores me out of my mind, with the exception of video monitors which are kind of fun to experiment with. Maybe other dads get into onesies, baby booties and bottles, but me, not so much.
All is not lost for dads in baby gear land however.
Check out these very cool new ideas, tech and inventions that probably came out of the mind of some bored guy staying up all night watching his baby do whatever babies do.
Ford’s Crib that Simulates Riding in a Car
Everyone knows that car rides make babies fall asleep, and sometimes they actually do. Well Ford Motor Comp. in Spain made a crib that acts like a car.
The crib combines movement, vibration, sound and light to make it feel similar to being in an actual vehicle.
The crib was created as part of a media campaign so there is no telling whether it will ever become an official commercial product, but it is still a very interesting concept.
Car Seat with Airbags
This may be a news flash, but at the end of the day a car seat is nothing more than, drumroll, a seat. Sorry to disappoint you. They are just shaped plastic with some padding and fancy seatbelts.
That is, until you add an AIRBAG, and now all of the sudden it makes you want to watch the video. Because what can be cooler than seeing dual bags blow out of the front of a car seat.
Maxi-Cosi a car seat manufacturer created and brought to market the AxissFix Air which as far as I know is the first car seat with built in air bags.
The bags are actually attached to the safety harness that goes over the shoulders of the child and buckles in the front. They look like little shoulder pads that keep the harness from rubbing the kids neck. But actually, they deploy in a collision on each side and in front of the baby’s head to provide additional head protection.
The car seat with airbags is forward-facing, and the airbags provide a buffer against the forward motion of the child’s head in a head on collision.
An Inflatable Car Seat
Not to be outdone in the baby arena Volvo created an inflatable car seat.
We’ve all had to lug around car seats and as every experienced mommy and daddy knows, carrying car seats is a pain in the back side.
This is not so much of a problem with Volvo’s inflatable seat. It weighs about half the amount of a typical seat at about 11 lbs.
The beauty of it is portability for travel. You can pack it uninflated and easily take it on vacation.
It comes with a built in pump that will inflate it in less than a minute. The pump can be activated remotely via Bluetooth.
You can use it in a taxi, in a second or third vehicle, wherever.
What about safety?
As far as I know, this product is only a concept at the moment. Until they decide to roll it out to the public and subject to federally mandated testing, we won’t have the final word on how safe it is.
Sensors
Baby Trend has a thing called Connected Gear. This technology was invented to address the very real tragedy of mistakenly leaving kids in a vehicle.
The connected gear car seats have a pressure sensor on the safety harness that determines whether there is a kid in the seat.
If a parent leaves the child in the seat and the walks out of range, they get a signal on their connected phone or device.
Because it functions as an app, it can also be used remotely. The sensor can be set to alert multiple devices. So for example, if a child was being supervised by a care giver and the care giver left the kid in the seat and walked away, the parent could be notified.
Another use of the sensor is the reverse scenario. The parent has placed the child in the seat, but the sensor signals that no kid is in the seat. The meaning of this signal would be that the harness isn’t sufficiently snug against the child.
Wrap Up
Baby gear doesn’t have to completely boring. You just need a little tech to spice it up.