CES 2018: A belt with sensors to protect your hip

Falls are an enormous problem for the elderly — and one company believes the best way to protect them is an $800 belt with airbags. Hip’ Air from Helite is an overstuffed belt which has in-built sensors that are capable to tell when the user is about to fall.

The company claims that the airbag deploys within 0.2 seconds, which is impressive. As the person falls down, the airbags inflate right above your hips to absorb the impact.

HipAir is lightweight and has a plastic buckle on the front; inside is an inflator and a sensor. Arrows tell you which way to wear the belt, and it beeps if you put it on the wrong way. It wouldn’t be uncomfortable, but it’s not invisible either, and it would be obvious under or above almost all clothing.