This Wearable Tech Is Way Better Than Apple Watch

Science fiction aficionados, you may want to sit down while reading this, because technology is finally catching up to fantasy. Stanford Physics scholar Christoph Kohstall's entry in Intel's Make It Wearable Challenge is Nixie, a bracelet that turns into a selfie-taking drone. The Make It Wearable Challenge encourages forward-thinkers to theorize and engineer utilitarian wearable technology for a $500,000 award. The competition is broken into two sectors, the Visionary course for those with prescient ideas that may not be attainable just yet, and the Development course for those with wearable technology ideas that can be engineered with current technology. The drone bracelet is a member of the latter camp.

If you're thinking this is the stuff of fiction, you're quite right: Kohstall intends Nixie to take flight from the wrist with a movement of the hand, circle to an appropriate height and take pictures of whatever activity merits documentation. This miniature "pod copter", as Project Manager Jelena Jovanovic calls it, will take the existing technology used to create the miniaturized drone and build upon it to fit into the wearable technology sector. Currently, the project is in a trial stage, wherein the team is hoping to work out logistics such as how much energy is needed to launch the device, and how to program Nixie to return to the wrist once a selfie has been taken.

With a project like this on the horizon, perhaps other generations will stop bemoaning the utterly lazy and self-absorbed nature of Millennials. After all, complacency simply doesn't create photo-snapping drone accessories. As for the success of Nixie in the Make It Wearable Challenge compared to other entries, we'll have to wait until November 3 for a definitive answer on the winning contestant.