Aurai - The first wearable water technology to protect your eyes from modern technology
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480
backers
$97,538
pledged of $50,000 goal
This project will be funded on .
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Aurai - The first wearable water technology to protect your eyes from modern technology
About this project
TPN live interview with Aurai and Co-Founder Eric.
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TPN host's feedbacks on Aurai trial.
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For media inquiries about receiving a review unit or any questions, please contact Sam Levin or Jonah Balfour.
We’re becoming more and more digitized as more of our hobbies and activities are moving online. Modern technology has us looking at screens for most hours of the day, while this is amazing and is a favorite pastime for most of us, it takes a toll on eyes.
Existing technologies are based on either cumbersome towel/gel based cold warm compress or air pressure and heat that can dry the eyes, thus increasing the eye strain caused by the modern screen saturated life style.
According to the 2016 Digital Eye Strain Report by the Vision Council, almost 9 out of 10 Americans use digital devices for two or more hours each day. While nearly 60% of Americans use digital devices for five or more hours daily, 70% of people use two or more devices simultaneously.
Digital eye strain usually brings us with conditions of dry, irritated eyes, blurry vision and neck and back pain. It’s not a surprise to start experiencing this comfort after spending two or more hours staring at a digital screen, or more realistically, multiple screens. In fact, on average, 3 out of 4 people who use two or more devices at a time report experiencing the conditions of digital eye strain.
When you are preoccupied with screens, your eyes would blink less often which likely develops conditions as redness or burning; and difficulty reading because of discomfort. In such situation, try the cool compress method to relieve the “heat” around your eyes.
Cool compress helps to regulate the blood circulation around your eyes and relieve the strains in your eyes. It is also ideal to apply cool compress to alleviate the conditions associated with inflammation as puffy eyes, dark circles, ocular itching and watery eyes from allergies by slowing metabolic rate and reducing swelling around the eyes.
The warm compress helps stimulate the oil glands and help prevent clotting of oil. This helps retard the evaporation of tears and also improve blood circulation which in turn helps to relax the eyes. It would be difficult to fall asleep when your eyes are strained. At this time, apply warm compress on your eye lids to relieve your eye strains. It would help you to rest better.
The warm compress dilates the blood vessels, while the cool compress contracts them. This creates a toothpaste-tube-like action, promoting the pushing of the blood along through the area you’re applying with warm/cool compresses. As the blood flow to the eyes is encouraged, it brings nourishing oxygen and nutrients to the applied area, and carries away the waste-products that may have been stagnating there. The result is a fresher-feeling, better nourished eye area, which may help the eyes function better and more radiant skin around eyes. By the same principle that cool causes contraction and warm causes expansion, the warm-cool-method gives all the tissues in the area a gentle exercise. Just as workouts strengthen the body, this kind of micro-workout may help strengthen the area.
Aurai incorporates both cool and warm compresses with its unique Wave Massage System, Temperature Transfer System and innovative Water Bag Design which delivers soothing massage experience at consistent temperatures to optimize the foresaid benefits.
Wave massage system
Temperature transfer system
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One of the most important elements of reducing eyestrain is utilizing temperature, while cold and hot compresses give extreme and uncontrolled temperatures and erratic results, our Water Bag Design combined with our Temperature Transfer System creates consistent temperatures with projected results to either hot, cold, or hot/cold treatment courses. Our innovative system heats or cools the water before flowing it trough the Water Bag and allows for a temperature change in 2 minutes.
Water bag design
The innovation in Aurai’s solution comes down to one of the most basic elements of life— water.
After conducting through market research we realized a huge problem with current eye massagers is the rigid design that rarely fits comfortable on the user’s eyes, thus increasing the problem it is meant to solve.
Our Water bag design, created from hypo allergenic silicone, includes a face mask that instantly molds to any face shape, creating the most soothing solution possible.
"I look forward to using it everyday, maybe more than once a day.”
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"I very much like the approach of the cooling and relaxing, someway the eyes feel like being reinforced.”
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"It’s nice and warm. It feels like a moist being applied on your eyes.”
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Aurai is an ideal product for people suffering from side effects of modern life’s screen saturated culture, including migraines, dry or irritated eyes and any other types of screen induced eye strain.
Aurai can help you after a long flight, a long day at work, or whenever you feel strain in your eyes, it’s the technology meant to protect any technology user from their screens.
Aurai is also an ideal companion for the active side of you. From spending a casual day out on the slopes to competing in a local triathlon, our eyes are constantly working and put under strain. Squinting into sun rays while on your morning run or swimming laps in the chlorine pool cause irritation and fatigue. Aurai is here to help relieving such discomfort.
For health conscious side of you, Aurai is your best partner to maintain the well-being of your eyes daily.
Eric, our Co-Founder, had a father-in- law who was suffering from constant eye fatigue, showing signs of eye strain, migraines, irritation and puffiness, and could not find any relief. No product currently on the market did the job.
We were determined to create a product that would be a dependable, reliable, easy, fast and effective way to make Eric’s father-in- law feel better.
Throughout our development, we looked into studies on eye strain and found that approximately one-third of adults (30%) spend more than 9 hours per day using looking at a screen and nearly 7 in 10 millennials report having symptoms of DES or “Digital Eye Strain” (The Vision Council, 2015 Digital Eye Strain Report).
We formed a team of highly knowledgeable and experienced professionals, focusing on both consumer electronics and health care product design.
Through countless brainstorms and experiments, we finally came up the design of the core control unit that steadily provides both cool and warm, thereby granting it with patent in 11 countries. We combined our design and IE capabilities to materialize this brilliant idea into real product.
The team includes fluid dynamics professionals, engineers, designers and developers across from different industries bringing complex health and consumer products to market.
Our team consists of 8 people, with an average of 10 years of experience. Together we use the areas of expertise needed to bring Aurai to life. We love what we do, and we love Aurai.
Risks and challenges
The design of Aurai is complete. All products shown on this page and in the video were built from different generations of prototypes. We’re currently ready to fabricate toolings and ramp up at our factory. We’re ready to fulfill our promise to meet the estimated delivery times.
Engineering:
To achieve the level of simplicity in user experience that we have, we have to design and engineer a very complex system. We have taken two key steps to ensure our engineering success. 1) We have formed an amazing team of engineers and designers, and 2) we test our printers with an obsession for perfection. In the last year, we have built 7 generations of prototypes, a production run of alpha machines, we will have a run of beta machines with significant user testing, and we keep enormous amounts of data to guide our future work.
Supply chain and logistics:
Many Kickstarter campaigns can encounter problems when taking their prototypes to production. This includes issues finding suppliers and engineering products for mass-production. Smooth execution is absolutely essential to overcoming such risks. We take this lesson seriously and have been working for months negotiating with suppliers, testing component quality, and building a team that can execute on our promises. Our plans are nearly in place, and we now mainly require the resources to execute them.
Disclaimer: Content on this site is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or health condition, nor substitute for advice given by a licensed health-care professional. You should contact your health-care provider immediately if you suspect that you have a medical problem.
Learn about accountability on KickstarterFAQ
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Aurai's Cool Cycle may be best to relieve the “heat” around your eyes if your eyes feel strained, hot, red and tired, whereas if you simply want to relax yourself, then Aurai's Warm Cycle will certainly do the job.
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Traditional eye gel packs cannot maintain a comfortable and stable temperature. The blood vessels around the eyes cannot receive massage and stimulation.
With Aurai, you can apply cool or warm compress by simply pressing buttons. It offers preset consistent adequate temperature throughout the cycle without hours of waiting and taking risks of hurting your eyes.
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Yes. As recommended by doctors, the tempreture is controlled at all times by a smart chip.
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As recommended by doctors, cool mode is around 60℉(18℃)
and warm mode is around 104℉(40℃). -
Because of the danger of injury due to extreme or unbenificial tempratures, we do not allow users to adjust the temprature, the temprature is instead set to doctor's recommendations automatically
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No, they cannot be separated. There are wires and pipes connected between Eye mask and controller. They are considered as a combined item.
Because of delicate machinery and information that needs to be connected between the two, the mask and the controller are one item.
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The blue light is a breathing light, which symbolizes relaxing state of the user during usage. It also expresses the concept of our product design - relaxing and natural.
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No, because your eyes are closed when using it.
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Your eyes should be closed when using Aurai.
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The vibration is designed to stimulate acupuncture points around the eyes. It promotes muscles relaxation and blood circulation.
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Aurai is suitable for all age groups, however elderly and children require supervision when using it.
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Yes. The Aurai is flight ready. Both the product itself and it's battery are approved to go on flights. The water bottle can be filled once the plane is boarded.
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Any tap water should suffice
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No. Contact lenses must be removed before using the Aurai.
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We recommend you to remove your makeup before using Aurai, for cosmetic reasons only.
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No. The battery is embedded.
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Yes, Aurai is fully portable and comes with a carrying pouch. It’s great for your eyes to take a break at office, on plane, waiting for connecting flight at airport.
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Yes. You may use well wrung damp cloth included in the package.
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Though Aurai runs with water to control temperature, it is not waterproof against external sources.
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The water circuit is made of silicone, which is an environmental-friendly material and is widely used in medical products. It is harmless, non-toxic, and hypo-allergenic.
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It's the natural characteristic of silicon material.
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Aurai offers one-year warranty.
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The products will start to be shipped to backers three months after the Kickstarter fund-raising program completed. Different rewards are with different shipping date.
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Yes! we have shipping available to 88 countries.
Customs fees and taxes vary depending on the country you are in so we would recommend checking with your customs office before you become a backer.