When one says “Beretta,” more often than not, you think of the worldwide brand known for the Italian firearms it manufactures. Not so often do you think of the Beretta Research and Innovation Center also known as “BRAIN.”
BRAIN is Beretta’s “technology incubator” which is tasked to develop and test technologies that are aimed to provide solutions that ensure user safety.
BRAIN has theorized i-Protect Personal: a system that is designed to detect physical danger through a smartphone-connected sensors that track physical activity and monitors the body’s response to it. If the system detects distress, or if the user decides to activate the distress call, the system can alert emergency response systems.
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The system includes a smartphone app that acts as the brain system, which monitors and reports the user data, a smart watch that acts as the on-to-go biometric data display and allows two-way communication, and sensors that are embedded in the shirt that report biometric and other data that track athletic performance and alert the system to potential distress.
Because BRAIN has an “in the field” test mandate, Beretta tested this technology during the annual New York City Marathon on Sunday. Five runners who were also Beretta Italian employees along with five USA runners who represented NYC-based non-profit Project ALS organization ran in the race as part of B-We, a series of instances wearing the i-Protect Personal technology, in an effort to test it and get feedback.
Exclusive image of screen our first responders see when an emergency is detected on i-Protect Personal pic.twitter.com/bX2DcNPuen
— BERETTA (@Beretta_USA) November 6, 2016