Daqri Buys Smart Headband Maker Melon

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Daqri, an enterprise augmented reality company in downtown Los Angeles, has acquired Melon, a Venice wearable tech company, for an undisclosed sum.

Melon manufactures a headband and mobile app that monitor brain activity and provide users with data on their cognitive performance.

Five-year-old Daqri, led by founder and Chief Executive Brian Mullins, said in a statement that it would integrate Melon’s sensors and technology into its Smart Helmet, a device that integrates with the wearers’ real-time environment and provides visual work instructions and safety alerts.

Melon’s headband utilizes Electroencephalography (EEG), which is the recording of electrical activity along the scalp.

“Daqri has been active in research and development using EEG and other direct-to-brain technology for several years,” Matt Kammerait, Daqri’s vice president of product, said in an emailed statement. “We identified the best of breed in Melon, which happened to come with an amazing team, and we couldn’t pass up the chance to add it to the Smart Helmet.”

The addition of Melon’s technology will allow the Smart Helmet to monitor workers’ heart rate, skin temperature, stress level, attention and fatigue, and provide real-time analysis if the worker is in danger, the company said.

The Melon team will work on integrating Melon technology with the Smart Helmet while continuing to work on a new version of its headband and software applications for consumers.

Melon, led by co-founder and Chief Executive Arye Barnehama, launched in November 2013 after raising nearly $300,000 on Kickstarter, beating its fundraising goal by almost 200 percent.

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