Amazon is reportedly working on an emotion-tracking Alexa wearable

NelsonG · May 23, 2019

Amazon probably knows everything else about you at this point, so why not let it track your emotions, too? The company is said to be working on a wearable wellness device said to be able able to determine a user’s emotional state. Word arrives from a Bloomberg story based on “internal documents.”

This comes on the heels of a patent issued for the company designed to let Alexa determine a speaker’s mood and respond accordingly based on how they’re feeling. That filing highlighted relevant emotions like “happiness, joy, anger, sorrow, sadness, fear, disgust, boredom [and] stress.” That’s a pretty wide range of reactions for a smart assistant.

The smartphone-connected, wrist-worn device is said to be the product of the Alexa and Lab126 hardware team. It’s currently being tested, internally, under the codename “Dylan.” It’s worth noting that Amazon has recently been encouraging a lot of experimentation among its internal hardware team, especially when it comes to Alexa products. Among other things, that experimentation has led to the creation of Echo Buttons. Most, however, haven’t made it past the trial phase.

Amazon’s tight lipped on the matter, and the anonymous folks who’ve been discussing the device haven’t offered any info on potential timeframe. All we do know for sure is that Amazon’s looking to get Alexa on as diverse and array of products as possible, and this certainly qualifies as that.