OwnPhones, the World’s First 3D Printed Wireless Earphones
What if there is a pair of wireless earphones built exclusively for your ears? That’s right. Ownphones are custom made to be the best-fitting 3D printed wireless earbuds that are designed to fit perfectly to your ears and custom made to match your personality.
By using a mobile app to upload a video of your ears, OwnPhones’ servers will convert those images into 3D data needed to print your custom earbuds. From there, you get to select from a huge array of styles, colors and materials to create your own unique pair of earbuds.
“We’re still perfecting the scanning process,” said OwnPhones founder and CEO Itamar Jobani. “Right now, we’ve automated about 80 percent of the photogrammetry and this is a remarkable achievement. However, we want to do better. And the custom solution for fully-analyzing the 3D ear scans from 2D video is very complex. We’re correcting the common errors by collecting comparative data of mobile scans with high definition scans. We also automated many parts of the surface extraction by developing a custom process that uses border detection in combination with statistical information of ears scans. However, this process demands many programming hours and the expansion of our high-resolution ear scan database.”
There are four types of OwnPhones for customers to choose from with over ten thousand of different designs and combinations for customization. The Fit version is designed to stay in your ear, no matter your activity or workout, while the Designer Fit variety steps up the style by giving you a choice of graphics and glossy finish to your OwnPhones.
The Smart Fit incorporates advanced digital signal processor that will enable filtering of ambient noise, and the user has the power to choose how much the world comes in, at least in terms of sound. This model features LED status light as well, so that those around you can tell if you are busy (red light) or are available for conversation (green light). The Jewelry Collection version brings unique style and shaping from a collection of silver, brass, bronze and gold plating, or gemstones to totally bling out the OwnPhones.
OwnPhones uses Bluetooth 4.0 with aptX audio technology to stream with an iPhone 4S and up, as well as Android phones and Windows phones with LE hardware. The system is expected to have a frequency response of 20Hz to 20kHz, total harmonic distortion of less than 3 percent (1kHz, 1mW), 16Ohm impedance and 100.5dB sensitivity. There will be an integrated omnidirectional microphone to cater for handsfree calls. The built in battery is predicted to have 4 to 6 hours of playback time and 140 hours of standby time. The device could be connected to a micro-USB for a one and a half hour to reach full charge.
OwnPhones was just launched on KickStarter with a starting pledge of $149 for a basic Fit model up to $299 for the Jewelry model. If all goes according to plan, OwnPhones will start shipping from March 2015.
