The PitPat pack went on our walkies again, this time it was off to London for the Wearable Technology Show held at the Excel Centre. It was a very different kettle of fish from Crufts, mainly because there were no fishy dog treats. There were a plethora of visual and wearable treats for us to feast our eyes, arms, fingers and ankles on…

The show was noticeably well organised and we had a roam first checking out what was on offer. Our new Pack member fell hard for the practicality and solidity of the Hoodie Buddie. It had machine washable ear phones and mic that were also the draw strings on the hood. A perfectly sized zip pocket to enclose your phone then seamlessly connected you. A subtle but infinitely practical wearable in our opinion!

We moved from the subtle to the glaringly conspicuous clothing that was covered in flashing  lights. These were aptly named Visijax! Our interest was homing in on the jackets  for cycling as Cambridge is bike central. Being seen here tends to prevent losing altercations with lorries.

The outstanding product that frankly, knocked us out with its ingenuity was the Corner boxing gloves. These clever gloves analysed the type of punch, as well as the speed and power instantly and then gives you a detailed overview of your performance.  Corner was intelligently designed and definitely one of the more exciting offerings of the many samey wearable fitness products for humans at the show.

The Corner guys explaining the technology to the Gadget Show’s Jason Bradbury.

It’s a Knock Out!

Our roaming was halted as our stand got pawsomely busy! As the only British designed and made dog wearable there we were constantly answering questions and chatting with interested show goers. Everyone wanted in on the PitPat Pack! We also couldn’t help stopping the traffic of journalists, technology vloggers, bloggers and film makers passing by. They were both curious and excited by this fresh prospect of a truly dog-centric activity monitor. Andy pitpatted from interview to podcast to presentation with his usual fitness and finesse. Here he is having been invited to speak on the main stage to a panel of judges and larger audience about the PitPat.

Fifi (the pooch) enjoying her moment of fame here as demo dog!

Our very own pawsome pup did a little special guest speaking too…

He wanted the microphone moved down a bit, had to bark louder in the end.

New member of the Pack Esther gave several more interviews and quotes to various members of the press. There was a high peak in Esther’s activity level graph when Mary Portas and film crew stopped by to interview Andy. She will most likely feature as the effusively excited woman in orange dress at some point soon! We were featured in a whole bunch of articles… Here is a roundpup of some of our highlights from WTS;

• Olly Man of the Guardian had a no nonsense approach.
• Our Twitter tech news video interview.
• Geek News Central. Obvious why we liked this one!
• Our playful pups loving on Mary Portas’ shoe’s
• The Gadget show’s Amy and crew rocking up to film our stand and interview us. She was lovely and super busy, we caught her having a little dog nap later while pretending to try out a smart bed…

As we couldn’t move much for the crowds, we felt fortunate to be placed opposite a very interesting stand – Sensoria. These were a genuinely cool set of wearable fitness devices that got us very keen to get our #Packrun on. (More on the Pack runners coming soon.) We picked up a pair of socks, a sleek anklet sensor that is magnetised to the sock, and an app paired by Bluetooth just like the PitPat. There are actually multiple propriety pressure sensors IN THE SOCKS.(?!) The anklet measures and relays activity to the app which gives you continuous real time tips and hints about your cadence, pace, posture with feedback and coaching. Don’t worry, the anklets are not bulky or heavy so they don’t make you look like a criminal. It was waggy tails all round when the Sensoria crew decided to join our Pack too and picked up a PitPat!

We can highly recommend the WTS for anyone who wants to get their geek on and fetch the freshest innovation in this rapidly changing, expanding market area.

In our next pupdate… We’ve taken up running together at PitPat and made some furry friends on our #Packrun!